Onlykashmir.in News Desk
Afghanistan’s Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock, Mawlawi Attaullah Omari, arrived in New Delhi on Tuesday for an official visit aimed at deepening bilateral cooperation between the two countries in the farm and livestock sector. The visit comes at a time when India has been steadily expanding its humanitarian and developmental engagement with Afghanistan, despite the complexities surrounding formal diplomatic recognition of the Taliban administration in Kabul.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs extended a warm welcome to the visiting minister on his arrival, noting that New Delhi looks forward to substantive discussions on issues of mutual interest. The visit is expected to touch upon avenues for expanding agricultural cooperation, including exchange of expertise in irrigation management, livestock health, and crop productivity, areas where India has traditionally offered technical assistance to Afghan institutions.
Agriculture remains the backbone of Afghanistan’s economy, employing a large share of its population and forming a critical pillar of food security in a country that continues to grapple with the aftershocks of decades of conflict and, more recently, sanctions related economic strain. For India, engagement on agriculture and irrigation offers a low friction channel to maintain a working relationship with Kabul even as broader political questions remain unresolved.
India has in recent years supplied wheat, medicines, and other humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, alongside technical training programmes for Afghan officials in areas ranging from public health to agriculture. Officials in New Delhi have consistently maintained that India’s assistance is driven by humanitarian considerations and its historic civilisational ties with the Afghan people, cutting across changes in government in Kabul.
The minister’s visit is also being read as part of a broader pattern of engagement between Indian officials and functionaries of the Taliban administration, which has included periodic technical level talks even though India has not formally recognised the current dispensation as Afghanistan’s government. Irrigation cooperation is likely to be a key talking point given Afghanistan’s ongoing efforts, including large canal projects, to expand its cultivable land and reduce dependence on erratic rainfall.
Officials familiar with the itinerary indicated that the Afghan delegation is expected to hold meetings with counterparts in India’s agriculture and external affairs establishment during the visit, alongside possible interactions with the business community on investment and trade opportunities in the farm sector. No joint statement had been issued at the time of filing.
