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Earlier this week, India suffered a foreign policy setback of unprecedented proportions, as Iran announced that it was ‘dropping’ India from the Chabahar-Zahedan Railway line project. The importance of this news, and its relevance to Pakistan’s economic and security interests, cannot be overstated.
Simply put: India’s Chabahar deal was the gravest long-term threat to Pakistan’s internal security, regional comity, and economic wellbeing. And being ‘dropped’ from Chabahar is, without a doubt, the biggest foreign/strategic policy debacle that India has had to face in recent memory—yes, even more significant than loss of territory in Ladakh.
Let us try and understand what the Chabahar deal was, how it impacts Pakistan as well as the region, and what exactly has India lost in Chabahar.
Read more: Iran accidently sacrifices Chabahar, Afghan border security takes precedence
How India lost Chabahar deal
In 2016, as Pakistan was still taking one step forward and two steps back in CPEC, India signed an enormously significant deal with Iran and Afghanistan, to develop the Chabahar port in Iran, and connect it to Afghanistan (and beyond) through railway route. This was India’s answer to CPEC; a convenient route for India to access the markets of Central Asia and Europe, without having to go through Pakistan.
India moved quickly to establish its presence in Chabahar. However, the rest of the planned projects, including the Chabahar-Zahedan railway line, were needlessly delayed by the Indian authorities. Despite getting a ‘sanction-free’ status for Chabahar from the US, India acted timidly, and did not fulfil its financial commitments towards the project.
It delayed funding, created bureaucratic hurdles, and hid behind (non-existent) threats of sanction from the US. Over time, it seemed that India was more interested in establishing its (spy) presence in Chabahar, instead of making the requisite strategic investments in Iran’s infrastructure projects.
Read full article...
India’s Chabahar fiasco: There’s more to this than meets the eye
Earlier this week, India suffered a foreign policy setback of unprecedented proportions, as Iran announced that it was ‘dropping’ India from the Chabahar-Zahedan Railway line project. The importance of this news, and its relevance to Pakistan’s economic and security interests, cannot be overstated.
Simply put: India’s Chabahar deal was the gravest long-term threat to Pakistan’s internal security, regional comity, and economic wellbeing. And being ‘dropped’ from Chabahar is, without a doubt, the biggest foreign/strategic policy debacle that India has had to face in recent memory—yes, even more significant than loss of territory in Ladakh.
Let us try and understand what the Chabahar deal was, how it impacts Pakistan as well as the region, and what exactly has India lost in Chabahar.
Read more: Iran accidently sacrifices Chabahar, Afghan border security takes precedence
How India lost Chabahar deal
In 2016, as Pakistan was still taking one step forward and two steps back in CPEC, India signed an enormously significant deal with Iran and Afghanistan, to develop the Chabahar port in Iran, and connect it to Afghanistan (and beyond) through railway route. This was India’s answer to CPEC; a convenient route for India to access the markets of Central Asia and Europe, without having to go through Pakistan.
India moved quickly to establish its presence in Chabahar. However, the rest of the planned projects, including the Chabahar-Zahedan railway line, were needlessly delayed by the Indian authorities. Despite getting a ‘sanction-free’ status for Chabahar from the US, India acted timidly, and did not fulfil its financial commitments towards the project.
It delayed funding, created bureaucratic hurdles, and hid behind (non-existent) threats of sanction from the US. Over time, it seemed that India was more interested in establishing its (spy) presence in Chabahar, instead of making the requisite strategic investments in Iran’s infrastructure projects.
Read full article...
India’s Chabahar fiasco: There’s more to this than meets the eye
