Key Taliban leader’s intervention led to Pakistan’s nod for supply of wheat from India

Days before the Taliban’s acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi embarked on a visit to Pakistan on November 10, one of his helpers reached out to an conciliator to ascertain whether there were any India- related issues that should be raised in Islamabad.

The assistant from Muttaqi’s office also wanted to ascertain from the conciliator whether there were any perceptivity that should be kept in mind in the Taliban foreign policy chief’s demoiselle engagement with the Pakistani leadership, people familiar with the matter said on condition of obscurity.

Muttaqi’s assistant was informed about the need to take up with the Pakistani leadership the offer made by India several weeks ago to supply tonnes of wheat to Afghanistan, and the pressing need to make trip arrangements for hundreds of Afghan citizens stranded across India since the fall of the Ashraf Ghani government in August, the people said.

Pakistan hadn’t responded to India’s offer to transport the wheat to Afghanistan via the Wagah land border crossing in the absence of direct breakouts.

The Taliban delegation led by Muttaqi, which was in Pakistan for three days, raised both issues with top leaders similar as foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Prime Minister Imran Khan. As a result, Khan blazoned on November 22 that his government would allow the payload of the Indian wheat as soon as modalities were worked out by Islamabad and New Delhi.

Khan said Pakistan would also grease the return of Afghans who had gone to India for medical treatment and were stuck there.

This outreach by Muttaqi’s camp and the Taliban’s balanced response to the November 10 meeting of elderly security officers of seven countries, including Iran and Russia, that was convened by India are being seen in some diggings as an attempt by the Taliban to strike a balance in their attempts to forge relations with Pakistan and India.