Afghan thanks US for exempting Chabahar port from biting Iran sanctions

Afghanistan has thanked the US for exempting Iran's strategic Chabahar port from its tough sanctions, saying the project, being developed by India, was an important commercially viable gateway for the land-locked country's access to the sea.

Last month, the Trump administration exempted India from imposition of certain sanctions for the development of the strategically-located Chabahar Port, along with the construction of a railway line connecting it with Afghanistan.

The US has imposed "the toughest ever" sanctions on a defiant Iran, aimed at altering the Iranian regime's "behaviour".

The sanctions cover Iran's banking and energy sectors and reinstate penalties for countries and companies in Europe, Asia and elsewhere that do not halt Iranian oil imports.

However, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had said that eight countries -- India, China, Italy, Greece, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey -- were temporarily allowed to continue buying Iranian oil as they showed "significant reduction" in oil purchase from the Persian Gulf country.

Afghanistan's Permanent Representative to the UN Mahmoud Saikal said that the Chabahar Port remains an important gateway for providing commercially viable access to the sea linking the Indian Ocean with Afghanistan, Central Asia and beyond.

"We appreciate the collaboration and flexibility of our strategic partner, the United States to work with Afghanistan, Iran and India towards exempting the port from its Sanctions," Saikal said Monday at a Security Council on the situation in Afghanistan.

Saikal said since last year, Kabul has operationalised air-cargo corridors with India, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Europe, Russia, UAE, Saudi Arabia and China, leading to a substantial increase in export of Afghan products abroad.

The year 2018 also witnessed the implementation of the Afghanistan section of the TAPI gas pipeline project, "which will revolutionise the energy sector in Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India".

A State Department spokesperson had said that the fate of Chabahar Port that the "exception relates to reconstruction assistance and economic development for Afghanistan. These activities are vital for the ongoing support of Afghanistan's growth and humanitarian relief."