Exclusive: Shahtoot dam hallmark of India-Afghanistan friendship, says Afghanistan's Cd'A charge de affairs Tahir Qadiry

Afghanistan's Cd'A charge de affairs to Delhi Tahir Qadiry has said mega infrastructure projects such as the Shahtoot dam are "hallmark of India Afghanistan friendship". India has been involved in many infrastructure projects in Afghanistan, including the India Afghanistan Friendship dam or Salma dam, the Afghan Parliament, and now the announcement being made on the Shahtoot dam. 

Leaders of both countries -- PM Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani -- held a virtual summit on Tuesday during which the agreement on the Shahtoot dam was announced. This was PM Modi's first virtual summit this year. 

Speaking to our Principal Diplomatic Correspondent Sidhant Sibal, Tahir said, "Bond between the countries are "organic" and both have been "standing by each other through thick and thin of time". India, on Sunday, sent 500,000 India made covid vaccines to Afghanistan which Tahir said was "highly appreciated in Afghanistan and this will help us to jointly tackle the pandemic".

Amid the pandemic, India sent 75,000 MT of wheat to Afghanistan and crucial medicines like HCQ and paracetamol. In fact, Quoting Sher Khan, an Afghan character from Zanjeer film, Tahir described India Afghan ties as "Yaari hai, iman hai mera, iman hai meri Zindagi --Friend is my faith, faith is my life." He also spoke on the Afghan govt's expectation from Biden admin, the issue of terror, connectivity.

WION: What will be the key focus of the India Afghanistan virtual meet?

Tahir Qadiry: We have been looking forward to a long time now, and because of the pandemic, this did not materialize. India has announced another big project they have on Afghanistan, the Shahtoot dam. After the Salma dam, this is the biggest project of India in Afghanistan. Around 2 million people in Kabul will benefit from drinkable water. If you know about Kabul, it is a cosmopolitan city made for a couple of hundred thousand people, but now more than 6 million people are living here. So as a result, this will be a very vital project for the residents of Kabul.

WION: What will be the key function of the dam?

Tahir Qadiry: These projects are hallmarks of the friendship and the bond, India, and Afghanistan have. What India did in Afghanistan was a couple of things, for democracy, they build the house of Parliament, for infrastructure, they build the Salma dam and now the Shahtoot dam is happening. On the other hand, sports, soft power, students exchanges, so this dam comes at a very important juncture of time. At a time, a lot of people in Kabul lack drinkable water. So this will provide for 2 million people drinkable water, so if you have seen pictures of Kabul, a lot of people live in the mountain, on top hill, so this will provide the opportunity to have access to drinkable water, and a great bond of friendship between the 2 countries.

WION: How has been ties been, the overarching point of convergence between India and Afghanistan?

Tahir Qadiry: The bond is such organic, that the 2 countries have been standing by each other through thick and thin of time. That speaks for itself, so during a very difficult time of the covid pandemic, during the lockdown, we were given the chance to sent 15000 Afghan back home. That would have not happened without the help of India. The air bubble, we have now direct daily flights, to Afghanistan--to Kabul and Mazar-e-sharif. This is again a signal, of friendship, while India is again close to a lot of countries and it is open to Afghanistan. The trade, the strategic partnership, India was the first country to sign that strategic partnership with India after the fall of the Taliban. A lot of cultural exchanges, these are all good examples of people-to-people relationship and no matter who has been at the helm of power in Kabul or Delhi, the relationship has always been the same.

WION: And vaccine diplomacy is one key point of convergence...

Tahir Qadiry: Afghanistan was the first recipient country to receive 500,000 doses of made in India vaccine and this has been highly appreciated in Afghanistan and this will help us to jointly tackle the pandemic. This was not actually the first time, both countries did such a giant thing. During the very hard time of the Pandemic, India sent Afghanistan 75000 MT of wheat, in case Afghanistan faced insecurity for food. At the same time, they sent critical drugs as well, like HCQ, Paracetamol, and masks. They were gifted by the Indian govt. Under the neighbourhood first policy, they have sent 500,000 doses of the Made in India vaccine. In his statement, President Ghani has said the vaccine should be allocated and prioritized for Afghan security forces and for frontline workers, working in hospitals and others. It is quite timely, at a time that at a time everyone is trying to access the vaccines, Afghanistan has been one of the first countries to receive it, it has been appreciated in social media too.

WION: You visited Ajmer Sharif, culture is one key connecting point...

Tahir Qadiry: As part of my trip, I have been travelling around to many states, one particular place which I really love to go there was Ajmer Sharif because we have a common history there. Mu'in al-Din Chishti came from Herat, in the 12th or 13th century, and he travels all the way and comes and resides there. So I always wanted to go there, according to my good friend, Salman Chishti Sahib, he said, when I went here, he said, normally Ajmer calls someone. So when the time comes, you will come to, when the time comes you will go there too. It took me a couple of hours to go there, the magnificent dargah, a lot of people holding prayers and we had a very good tour of the dargah too. We had qawwali there, which is part of it. Chishti Sharif, one of the common things they connected, is via music. Qawwali, which they did for us too and we did our Duas. I got a praying bead from there as a holy thing, and you know, again getting back to cultural ties we had, it has been portrayed in a lot of senses, and you know recently I wrote an article, there was a character, Sher khan. Sher Khan was a character of an Afghan in Zanjeer film, where he talks about this bond, Yaari hai, iman hai mera, iman hai meri Zindagi --Friend is my faith, faith is my life. I think that is the kind of picture that symbolizes the relationship between India and Afghanistan.

WION: We have a new president in Washington. President Joe Biden. What is the key expectation of the Ghani govt from him? 

Tahir Qadiry: There have been a lot of contacts between our govt and the new US admin. Some positive signals have been there. There have been at least three things, the US commitment to Afghanistan, which is very important for all of us because they have invested in blood and treasure, the international community, especially the US and European countries. This is very important to stay committed to Afghanistan. They have reaffirmed. 2nd is a review of the Taliban-US agreement because we believe that the Taliban has not stood by the agreement. and they have not been delivering, at a time we have been negotiating with them, they have been increasing the violence in Afghanistan. They are actually restoring to targeted attacks of the civil society activist, journalists, politicians, and on average we had 50 attacks across Afghanistan. So it is not only a number. They have been attacking schools, hospital wards, and university students. you saw the attack at the university in Kabul. At such a time, it is good news US will be reviewing that and 3rd one is regional consensus. Because without the regional consensus, we believe we cannot have enduring peace and we need to bring all our neighbours to the same table. we need to persuade every one peace in Afghanistan is peace for the region because geographically we are in such a location that is called the heart of Asia that if there is peace in Afghanistan, we can become the region's hub where goods and money, and ideas will flow.

WION: How have been the connectivity projects going, the air corridor, the Chabahar?

Tahir Qadiry: Connectivity is one of the ambitious plans our govt has had, and we have materialized it in many ways. Now Afghanistan is no more called a landlocked country, but a land bridged country. So air corridor is one of those ambitious projects, Chabahar is a strategic point for all the three countries, Iran, Afghanistan, and India. Quite soon we will have the quad meet of all the 4 countries. They will take it forward. I'm happy to see India investing a lot, and you the recent visit by Joint secretary in MEA to Chabahar where they delivered the crane and these are all good signs. Regarding the volume of trade, in fact, despite the restrictions of the pandemic, we have seen increased export to India. Back in 2017-18, the volume of our export to India was $433 million, and despite the pandemic in 2019-20, it has increased to $530 million which is a very good sign for all of us. regarding, saffron, we have seen a 23% increase in export to India. When it comes to connectivity, it is our dream project that we want Afghanistan to change that area that can connect 2 parts of the world.

WION: Lastly, terror has been something concerning everyone from Kabul to Delhi. A recent US report said Pakistani Taliban has been shielding Al Qaeda. Your reaction

Tahir Qadiry: Cross-border insurgency is something we all have been suffering from. That has been the call of the Afghan govt to different countries and our neighbours that we need to join hands to fight terrorism. At the end of the day, we all will be the victims of the war, and let me point to the US treasury dept's saying that the Taliban has not cut ties with Al Qaeda so again it is concerning for us that we are fighting at the forefront of fighting terror in the world. That has been the reason why our govt has been, our FM has been travelling around, and Prez has been calling different countries to forge this regional consensus so that everyone is convinced that peace in Afghanistan has been peace in the region. If we have peace in Afghanistan, the region has got a lot of potentials to move towards prosperity.