Afghanistan, India and Iran will have a trilateral meet in Kabul from September 9 to 12. The talks, which are around the various facets of rebuilding Afghanistan, will be conducted at the deputy minister/foreign secretary level, said sources in the Iran embassy.
India has heavily invested in rebuilding Afghanistan. Apart from building various infrastructural projects like the Selma Dam, the parliament house and extensive roads, India is interested in developing alternate access routes to the land locked country. Afghanistan shares large border with Pakistan on its east and Iran on its west. Since access through the Pakistan land route, via Wagah border depends upon the whims of the Pakistani dispensation, India is helping build the Chabahar port complex in Iran.
Phase I of Chabahar Port is due to be completed soon, and its operations will be handed over to an Indian company. Several consignments of wheat and other supplies have already reached Afghanistan from India through the Chabahar port. There is however, a requirement of developing the land and rail connectivities to the borders, and then, deep into Afghanistan, to facilitate the optimum use of the Chabahar port.
The trilateral meeting will be held even as the second set of US imposed sanctions loom over Iran. The second set, which includes sale of oil and oil products, as well as use of ports, will be effective from November 4. It is still rather ambiguous how these measures will affect India's involvement in Chabahar. India has already put in $150 million into Phase I of the port, and Iran is hoping India will invest in Phase II, too.
Both countries are hopeful that Chabahar Port may escape the sanctions since it services Afghanistan, a country in which the US itself is heavily involved. The 2+2 dialogue, scheduled on September 6 with the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defence James Mattis, and their Indian counterparts, Sushma Swaraj and Nirmala Sitharaman, would be an opportunity for India to put forward its concerns regarding the Chabahar project. The trilateral talks will take place just days after the 2+2 dialogue.