India's role praised by President Ghani at Afghanistan conference in Geneva

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has praised the role of India at the Afghanistan conference in Geneva.

On Tuesday, during his address, the Afghan President thanked India for its "commitment of over $2 billion" while on the first day he said, "I’d like to thank India and Iran for the Chahbahar corridor in the related sea corridor as well as the air corridor."

In 2017, New Delhi started the India-Afghanistan air corridor so that Afghan produce such as fruits can get the huge Indian market. India built Chabahar port in Iran has helped increased connectivity between the 2 countries. In fact, amidst the covid pandemic, India sent 75000 MT of wheat aid to the country.

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India since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, has emerged as a vital partner of Kabul, and helped in capacity building and built a number of infrastructure projects as well, which includes, the India Afghanistan friendship dam in Herat, the Afghan Parliament in Kabul.   

The 2020 Afghanistan Conference is being co-hosted by the Afghan Government, Finland's government and United Nations. The conference has seen a number of financial pledges by several countries for the country even as the peace process gains momentum. 

At the conference, the Afghan President highlighted how his country is known by many names such as "heart of Asia", "gates of India", "Switzerland of Asia", pointing out the vital geography of the country via a vis whole of Asia.