India dispatches 2,500 tons of wheat to Afghanistan via Pakistan

India on Tuesday dispatched 2,500 tons of wheat in aid to Afghanistan through Pakistan.

The consignment is part of the 50,000 tons of wheat India has pledged to deliver to Afghanistan within the next three months.

The wheat will be handed over in Jalalabad to the United Nations’ World Food Program, with which India has signed a pact to distribute the aid in Afghanistan.

It will cross through Attari-Wagah border, which has been closed to Indian goods since August 2019, when Islamabad suspended trade relations with New Delhi.

Pakistan has said it is opening the land route as an exception – only for the transit of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.

“We covered a long distance to reach India. Now we will take the donated wheat back to Afghanistan through Wagah route,” a truck driver said.

India meanwhile announced it was sending the wheat in October in response to appeals made by the United Nations for humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.

Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said at the time New Delhi was ready to provide more humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, the director of the World Food Program in India, Bishow Parajuli, said: “All the help Afghanistan receives will be of extreme value and therefore this help coming from India is really timely and very important.”

He said over half of the Afghan population was grappling with hunger, stressing the need for continued humanitarian assistance to the country.