In addition, it slashes the 45-day time taken through the North-South Corridor by almost half, permitting even perishables to be traded through this alternative pathway. These countries also have close relations with Pakistan. The agreement of the Western powers with Tehran in 2015 facilitated India’s engagement with Iran on Chabahar.Much diplomacy potentially rides on India’s shoulders in view of the Chabahar commitments. US President Donald Trump has threatened to overturn that agreement. This will mean the adroit managing of regional ties with Iran, China and Russia, which have high stakes and an influential voice in Central Asia and West Asia, besides Afghanistan.That is the true meaning of Chabahar.The first shipment of Indian wheat to Afghanistan via Chabahar went in October.

The sea-land route through the port is not a mere alternative to the surface route through Pakistan’s Khyber Pass; it is an example of far superior infrastructural topography. In addition to being flexible with China, Iran and Russia on the basis of mutual interests, it could be worth exploring if New Delhi can be a credible interface between Washington and Tehran. Even so, the indications so far are that India’s business dealings with Iran, and particularly insofar as trade with Afghanistan is concerned, will not be torpedoed by Washington. Petersburg in Russia (the North-South Corridor), along the way coupling with rail networks of over a dozen countries. Unlike the Pakistani route through which only basic supplies could go through if it worked, the Iran route permits a wide array of goods. If handled with delicacy, there is room here for supple, subtle and useful diplomacy tied to a very worthwhile objective. By the end of 2018, if current projections remain valid, the port should be fully operational for Indian goods..Chabahar port couldn’t be built for the past 12 years due to the US-led Western and UN sanctions against Iran.

Once India completes building the 640-km railway line from Chabahar to Zahedan and link up with the Iranian railway there, Indian goods can branch out to the east to go to Afghanistan, and to parts of Central Asia (where they will face stiff competition from the Chinese), and carry on northward towards St.With external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj arriving in Tehran on Saturday in connection with the inauguration of the first phase of Iran’s Chabahar port, which is being built with Indian cooperation, what we are inaugurating, in effect, is a new geopolitical vista that goes beyond finding an alternative route for trade with landlocked Afghanistan, bypassing the land route through Pakistan, nonwovens hair removal manufacturers about which Islamabad has been obstreperous and negative.But this will materialise only if India has the staying power beyond the 10-year lease period for two terminals at Chabahar it has got from Tehran