India has completed construction of a strategic road linking landlocked Afghanistan with a port in Iran, India''s envoy said, reflecting New Delhi''s resolve to remain engaged despite a deadly embassy bombing in July. The 220-km (135-mile) road in the south-west Afghan province of Nimroz is the centrepiece of New Delhi''s $1.1 billion reconstruction effort.
Which has drawn sniping from Pakistan, worried about its rival''s growing influence in Afghanistan. "We are in the process of handing over the road to the Afghan government," said Ambassador Jayant Prasad in an interview, adding this was a project in which India had invested blood and treasure. Ten workers have died in attacks, including seven this year, during the construction of the road from Delaram to Zaranj on the Iranian border which connects to the port of Chahbahar.
The road opens up an alternate access route into landlocked Afghanistan, which at the moment relies mostly on Pakistan with goods coming through from ports there and then overland via the Khyber pass. More than $1.2 billion worth of goods were imported into Afghanistan through Pakistan last year.
New Delhi, denied access through Pakistan, itself hopes to be able to deliver goods to Afghanistan through the Iranian port, and this has triggered fears in Pakistan it is being encircled.
"The road is part of a long-running commitment to the people of Afghanistan and it is something that has been welcomed by the people," Prasad said, citing a survey done by a foreign consultancy which ranked India high among foreign nations operating in Afghanistan because of its involvement in reconstruction work.
New Delhi has no troops and very little involvement in Afghan security except for hosting Afghan National Army officers for courses in military institutions in India. But the suicide bombing at the Indian embassy in Kabul in July in which at least 58 people, including two Indian diplomats, were killed, underscored the tensions that lay beneath.