From Delhi, with love: Trucks with 2.5k tonnes of wheat leave Attari for Kabul

A LITTLE over four months after India proposed to Pakan about sending wheat to Afghanan, the first convoy of trucks, carrying 2,500 metric tonnes of wheat, was flagged off from Attari-Wagah border to Afghanan as a humanitarian gesture.
Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla and Afghanan’s ambassador to India, Farid Mamundzay, flagged off 50 trucks along with World Food Program country director Bishaw Parajuli.
The wheat was brought in trucks from the Food Corporation of India (FCI) godowns in Amritsar and the bags in these trucks were unloaded into trucks that had come from Afghanan to receive the first consignment. They are likely to take three days to reach Afghanan via Pakan.

Officials said the sacks are double-bagged for preservation of the consignment from moure and infection, and shelf life of the wheat is a minimum 1 year from the date of dispatch. They said fumigation of the consignment has been undertaken before handing over for transportation.

The FCI is providing necessary phytosanitary (for import requirements of plant-based exports) and fit-to-consume certificates before handing over. It is also getting the wheat quality-tested a WFP-approved laboratory, officials said.
Each bag is stamped with “Gift from the people of India to the people of Afghanan” in English, Pashto and Dari, officials said.
Shringla said, “There is a strong people-to-people connection between India and Afghanan. We are extending our humanitarian assance to Afghanan in the form of 50,000 tonnes of wheat. We are flagging off our first consignment of 2,500 tonnes in 50 Afghan trucks today. It’ll be delivered to the World Food Program for dissemination.”
Afghan envoy Mamundzay, who hasn’t been to his country since the takeover the Taliban, said: “I am back to [the] horic city of Amritsar after less than 6 weeks & this time to witness the flagging off ceremony of India’s wheat assance shipment…. Amritsar, a beautiful city with rich hory and proud culture, is the shortest land route to Afghanan and has horically proven to be the game-changer not only for ‘aid but for trade’ in this region. For over 2,500 years, the Grand Trunk Road linked the Indian Subcontinent with Central Asia via Kabul while passing through Amritsar.”

He said free trade without barriers is the “only way forward for lasting peace and economic prosperity” in this region. “It is an honor to witness the flagging off ceremony of India’s wheat assance shipment…50,000 metric tonnes or more than 2,500 trucks of wheat is one of the largest food contributions done any country to support in this difficult hour.”
“Free aid is good but it is not the solution. Afghanan can develop only if trade is allowed through the borders and there are no restrictions,” he said.