At Heart of Asia conference in Islamabad, Swaraj calls for land access to Afghanistan

The 'Heart of Asia' cannot function if arteries are clogged, said the External Affairs Minister

The bonhomie from freshly resuscitated India-Pakistan relations, and from Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj’s arrival in Islamabad to attend the fifth Heart of Asia conference on Afghanistan, could not hide the schisms between New Delhi and Islamabad.

On Wednesday, she called on Pakistan to permit Indian goods to be transported overland to Afghanistan from the Attari-Wagah border near Amritsar, a facility Pakistan has consistently denied India.

The Afghanistan-Pakistan Trade and Transit Agreement (APTTA), which came into effect in June 2011, allows Afghan trucks to carry Afghan products to the Attari-Wagah border. Afghan exports to India are exempt from all duties.

Kabul and New Delhi have repeatedly called on Islamabad to allow Indian goods and humanitarian aid to be transported through Pakistan to Afghanistan. Islamabad, wary about Indian influence in Afghanistan, has not relented.

“If Afghan trucks could carry Indian products to markets in Afghanistan and Central Asia, that would be the best way to make trucking from Afghanistan cost-effective and viable, and bestow benefits to the whole region,” Swaraj told the conference.

“The ‘Heart’ of Asia cannot function if arteries are clogged,” she stated.

Swaraj also served a reminder that India could access Afghanistan via other routes, particularly the deep-water Chabahar port that India and Iran are developing jointly. “India is also working with Afghanistan and Iran to develop trilateral transit. Participation in development of Chahbahar will augment our connectivity with Afghanistan and beyond,” she said.

In a reference to Pakistan-based terrorism roiling Afghanistan, Swaraj said: “It is also the collective duty of all of us to ensure the forces of terrorism and extremism do not find sanctuaries and safe havens in any name, form or manifestation. We, in Afghanistan’s proximity, have a particular responsibility in this regard.”

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani was more circumspect in raising the issue of cross-border terrorism. He lauded Pak Army’s counter-terror offensive along the border, but said this had also“created unintended consequences, bringing about the displacement of a significant number of these (terrorist) groups on to our soil.”
 

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a group photo with the participants of the Ministerial Conference of Heart of Asia - Istanbul Process in Islamabad

Amid the play over Afghanistan, Swaraj also struck a conciliatory note. “Let me take this opportunity to extend our hand to Pakistan as well. It is time that we display the maturity and self-confidence to do business with each other and strengthen regional trade and cooperation. The entire world is waiting and rooting for a change. Let us not disappoint them,” she said.

Reminding Pakistan that New Delhi and Kabul are about to operationalise a strategic partnership agreement (SPA), which Pakistan has consistently viewed as a threat, Swaraj stated, “India is ready to work with Afghanistan to strengthen its defensive capability.”

Last month, Afghan National Security Advisor Hanif Atmar handed Delhi a “wish list” of military equipment Kabul wants from India. This includes, for the first time, offensive heavy weaponry, including four Russian-built Mi-25 attack helicopters.

The Heart of Asia conference (or Istanbul Process) brings together foreign ministers of 14 countries in a regional initiative to tackle Afghanistan’s political, security and economic problems. Conceived by Turkey, the first Heart of Asia conference was in Istanbul in November 2011. That was followed by a second conference in Kabul in 2012; the third in Almaty, Kazakhstan, in 2013, and the fourth in Beijing, China, in 2014. Next year, the sixth conference is scheduled here.

Meanwhile, key security decisions on Afghanistan, especially funding for the Afghan National Security Forces are taken by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato).

Funding till 2017 is already tied up. In July 2016, in Warsaw, Nato will discuss finance, training and support to Afghan security forces for the period 2018-20.

Simultaneously, civilian developmental assistance for Afghanistan will be discussed and arranged in October 2016 in Brussels.

On the sidelines of the conference in Islamabad, Swaraj also called on Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.