HOW INDIA , IRAN & AFGHANISTAN ARE COUNTERING PAK-CHINA CPEC ? TOP 5 FACTS

INTRODUCTION:

Chabahar Port is a seaport in Chabahar located in southeastern Iran, on the Gulf of Oman.

Chabahar Port is one of the most important economic and strategic ventures of India. It involves trilateral partnership between Iran, Afghanistan and India. Development of this port has huge future implications.
In this video, Defense Updates provides viewers with clear understanding of the different aspects related to it.
Lets get started.

BACKGROUND:

India's Chabahar investment has been pending for years, in part owing to US sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, many of which were lifted earlier this year.

In May 2016, India signed a series of 12 memorandums of understanding (MOU), which centered upon the Port of Chabahar.

The trilateral transit agreement signed by India, Iran and Afghanistan allows Indian goods to reach Afghanistan through Iran. It links ports in the western coast of India to the Chabahar port, and covers the road and rail links between Chabahar and the Afghan border.

The bilateral agreement between India and Iran gives India the right to develop two berths of the Chabahar port as agreed in 2015, and allows them to be operated for 10 years by India Ports Global.

IRAN’S GAIN:

90 percent of Iran's population is concentrated in the western part of the country; the eastern part is relatively less developed.

Iran is intending to change that through the development around Chabahar port, with a free trade zone, and road and rail links between Chabahar and Central Asia.
Its plan is to use Chabahar port as the gateway to Central Asia and maintain the Bandar Abbas port, which currently handles 85% of Iran's seaborne trade, as a hub for trade with Russia and Europe.



INDIA’S GAIN:

The port will make way for India to bypass Pakistan in transporting goods to Afghanistan using a sea-land route. At present, Pakistan does not allow India to transport through its territory to Afghanistan.

More importantly, strategically, it would counter Chinese presence in the Arabian Sea in the developing Gwadar port.

India through Chabahar, is establishing a "naval counterweight" to China's presence in Gwadar.

The port can be used to station security vessels for merchant ships off the African coast apart from giving the country a foothold in the very important western Arabian Sea.



AFGHANISTAN GAIN:


Pakistan has been creating major strategic challenge for Afghanistan. In recent years, the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan has arguably become the chief source of bilateral tensions. Kabul has repeatedly accused Pakistan’s security establishment of destabilizing Afghanistan through its support of the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network, including through the provision of sanctuaries in FATA and elsewhere in Pakistan.
 
 
Pakistan also has been creating economic strangulation against Afghanistan. At present, Pakistan allows Afghan trucks carrying goods meant for India only up to its last checkpoint at Wagah, and not to the Indian checkpoint at Attari which is just less than a kilometer away. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had asked Pakistan to allow his country direct access to India through Wagah border in Lahore, but to no avail.
 
With this port Afghanistan, will be less dependent on Pakistan.

CONCLUSION:

India's Chabahar Port deal as "a counter to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)," as it has "broken through the strategic encirclement by China and Pakistan”.
Chabahar, outflanks the $46-billion CPEC project with a much less investment. The port handled 2.1 million tons of cargo in 2015, which will be upgraded to 8.5 million tons by 2016 and to 86 million tons in future.

The transport corridor will open up a much-needed independent route to Afghanistan via Iran's Chabahar port circumventing Pakistan.

Washington broadly supports India and Afghanistan signing a deal with Iran, since it also wants India to push back against the Chinese expansionist design.