India-Central Asia Joint Working Group (JWG)

Context- India will use the Chabahar port to send the next shipment of wheat to Afghanistan as aid under the Taliban regime. The decision, which was made public during the first meeting of the Afghanistan Joint Working Group (JWG) between India and Central Asia in Delhi.

Key Highlights

• This occurs following the failure of negotiations for an extension and the expiration of the agreement with Pakistan to extend the route for sending wheat over land.
• The JWG meeting comes a year after the India-Focal Asia highest point in January 2022, where the choice to hold an exceptional contact bunch on Afghanistan was reported.
• The issues of medications, the commodity of psychological oppression and radicalism, and exiles has been at the highest point of worries for adjoining nations in Focal Asia.
• Since the Taliban took control of Kabul, opium production has increased by nearly a third, according to UNODC reports.
• Afghanistan, which is a part of the Golden Crescent, is where more than 80% of the world’s opium and heroin is smuggled out of the country.
• Opium addiction affects an estimated 3 million Afghans, or nearly 10% of the country’s population.
• The “importance of formation of a truly inclusive and representative political structure that extends equal rights for all Afghans, including minorities, women, and girls” was another point that the JWG emphasized.

What are the main results of the JWG meeting?

• According to the joint statement, no terrorist organization, including UN-designated terrorists, should be permitted to use Afghanistan’s territory or given sanctuary there.
• Additionally, India offered:
  • Altered limit building courses for UNODC (Joined Countries Office on Medications and Wrongdoing) Authorities and partners; as well as cooperation in efforts to stop drug trafficking and rehabilitate Afghan drug users, particularly women.

What has India done in the past to help Afghanistan?

• Grains for food:

• • • India and the World Food Program (WFP) of the United Nations reached an agreement in 2022 to distribute 50,000 metric tons of wheat to Afghanistan as part of humanitarian aid.
    • In order to combat the global COVID-19 pandemic and related food security concerns, India pledged to deliver 75,000 MT of wheat to Afghanistan in 2020.
    • India disseminated 2000 tons of heartbeats to Afghanistan in 2018 to advance food security, especially for youngsters during seasons of dry spell.

• Medical Equipment:

• • In the year 2020, India provided the government of Afghanistan with 50,000 pairs of surgical gloves, 1 million tablets of paracetamol, and 5 million tablets of hydrochloroquinine.
  • In 2015, India opened a Medical Diagnostic Centre in Kabul to offer the most recent diagnostic tools to Afghan children and foster goodwill toward India.
  • Infrastructure:
  • India has contributed USD 3 billion to Afghanistan’s reconstruction efforts since 2001.

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