New Delhi: At a time when the Taliban has frozen trade with Islamabad, Afghan industry and commerce minister Alhaj Nooruddin Azizi and Indian external affairs minister S. Jaishankar met in Delhi and discussed stronger commercial ties and the Chabahar port of Iran which Kabul is reportedly eyeing as a means of reducing dependence on Pakistan.

Azizi is the second Afghan minister to visit India in two months – after acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi's trip in October – representing New Delhi's cautious but steadily increasing engagement with the Taliban since it stormed to power in 2021.

Indian and Afghan officials led by Jaishankar and Azizi on Thursday (November 20) discussed “ways to strengthen our trade, connectivity and people to people ties”, Jaishankar said on X.

The Indian side reiterated its “support for the development and welfare of the people of Afghanistan”, he added.

Kabul's readout on the meeting said that the two sides “focussed on enhancing the operational efficiency of Chabahar port, fostering trade connections between their nations and streamlining visa procedures for esteemed members of Afghanistan's private sector”.

India has since 2018 been developing the Chabahar port in Iran, which in its connectivity strategy for Afghanistan and Central Asia is positioned as an alternative to overland routes in Pakistan.

The port recently received another sanctions waiver from Washington, and Reuters has reported that Kabul is increasingly making use of the exemption to shift freight to Chabahar in order to bypass and reduce dependence on Pakistan as its ties with Islamabad have deteriorated.

Relations hit a low in October as the two sides engaged in their deadliest border clashes in decades, in which New Delhi had backed the Afghan position. Trade has ground to a halt as border crossings remain closed, and an impasse in negotiations mediated by Turkey and Qatar prompted the Taliban to freeze commercial relations with Pakistan earlier this month.

Afghanistan also said of Thursday's meeting that “agreements were made to revive the previous working group between the two countries” but did not elaborate.

The two sides had established a ‘Joint Working Group on Trade, Commerce and Investment’ during the ousted republican government's tenure in Kabul.

Earlier during his visit, Azizi had met Afghan traders working in India to discuss market access and prospects for expansion and assured them he would raise their concerns with his counterparts on Raisina Hill.

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