With a biting winter drawing closer, and amid a financial crisis, food shortages can be expected in Afghanistan.
Thus, in a bid to send foodgrains from India to Afghanistan using the land route, India, according to The Indian Express, has reached out to Pakistan.
The report further says that while Islamabad has not yet declined the proposal, officials in New Delhi are hoping for a quick response. This is so that they may be able to organise the transport of aid as quickly as possible.
Some countries, including China and Turkey, have started distributing food to people in Afghanistan.
India's ‘Note Verbale’ to Pak
According to The Indian Express, the Indian government has sent a note verbale to Pakistan seeking movement of trucks carrying 50,000 metric tonne of wheat to Afghanistan via Pakistan.
The report quotes officials as claiming that the task of moving this quantity of wheat would require 5,000 trucks.
What Is the Complication?
Islamabad is reportedly looking at the proposal but has pointed out that the scale and logistics need to be worked out.
Either Indian trucks may have to be allowed, or the wheat would have to be unloaded and loaded again into Pakistani trucks at the Zero Point on the Wagha-Attari border.
(With inputs from The Indian Express.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)