Chabahar Port- A joint Iran- India Initiative to Outsmart Gwadar

By Tariq Niaz

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Iran in late May and signed a series of twelve memorandums of understanding (MOU) which centered upon the Iranian Port of Chabahar. In addition to bilateral MOUs, PM Modi also signed a trilateral transit agreement with Iran and Afghanistan which allows Indian goods to reach Afghanistan through Iran. The expanding Indian economic cooperation with Iran reflect on its changing foreign policy initiatives in the fast evolving geopolitics of the region and its response to much hyped China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and development of Gwadar Port in Baluchistan. 

Iran started building Chabahar deep sea port in Gulf of Oman in 1982 as an alternate to its port of Bandar Abbas and to provide a gateway to connect with land locked Central Asian States including Afghanistan. India joined in 2003 to develop rail and road communication network connecting the port with Zoranj on Iran- Afghan border. India has already completed Zoranj-Delaram road in Afghanistan at the cost of `134 million US dollars. With the lifting of UN sanctions against Iran, the Port project attracted renewed interests of stake holders especially India in the backdrop of Chinese initiative of CPEC. India’s enthusiasm stems from the fact that Pakistan had long been denying India a land bridge to connect with Afghanistan and CIS for bilateral trade fearing cheap Indian products will find their way back into Pakistan through porous Pak-Afghan border and damage its local industry. 

Iran-India relations are as old as history and have seen many ups and down especially after India gained independence and opted to being nonaligned. While Iran joined CENTO in mid-fifties, the relations have never been warm until the Shah of Iran was deposed and Islamists took over power. India joined Iran to support Northern Alliance in opposition to Pakistani support of Taliban in Afghanistan. This outside interest of regional players in Afghanistan and US military intervention now over a decade old, did not allow Afghanistan to attain any semblance of a stable state. Latest arrival of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Afghanistan, has acted to bring both Iran and India closer to counter the jihadist organization gaining influence or even getting a foothold. India fears that an unstable Afghanistan will be detrimental to the trilateral business and trade interests and overall peace and stability of the region. 

Recent killing of Taliban Amir Mullah Akhtar Mansoor has changed the entire scenario of Afghan peace initiative. Fingers have been raised at Iran for facilitating their American friends in his targeting which is likely invite wrath of Taliban in the future. The targeting of Mullah Mansoor has brought US Drone war to the settled areas of Pakistan and reflect poorly on the worsening Pak-US relations. Iranian alleged connivance with the US against Taliban has not only discredited Pakistan but also sent a strong message to KSA for its support to anti Iran proxies in region. But the fact remains that ISIS will be the biggest gainer in Afghan turmoil created with the departure of Mullah Mansoor and resulting infighting amongst various factions of Afghan Taliban.

Iran had been covertly sheltering elements of Al-Qaeda as one of Osama’s wife and his son had been in house arrest in Iran until Osama’s killing in 2011. Al-Qaeda never posed a threat to Iran but ISIS will be a deadly threat if it gained a solid foothold in the Southern Afghanistan. ISIS objective of establishing Islamic Caliphate and its successful handling of affairs in the liberated areas of Iraq and Syria raises its chances of winning over most of the warring factions in crisis ridden Afghan Taliban. ISIS seems to have no sympathy to the cause of either Iran or KSA thus eliminating its chances of being used as either’s proxy. However its future activities to control the economics of Afghanistan will likely put the upcoming projects of linking energy rich CIS through Afghanistan with the outer world in jeopardy. 

Will India be able to undertake and complete projects like Chabahar carries a big question mark if its track record of patchy work in Nepal is kept in view? Its desire to develop Chabahar as counter weight to Gwadar has started to complicate Iran’s relations with Pakistan and China. Indian involvement in unsettling Baluchistan and recent arrest of RAW agent who had been operating from the under construction site of Chabahar Port have raised many new issues in the trilateral relations. There is a need to create an environment of trust and confidence and resolve issues especially between Pakistan and India through dialogue and negotiations if economic initiatives are to succeed. This is the only way forward for economic prosperity for over a billion plus population of the South Asia.

ABOUT AUTHOR:Author is a free lance writer, have worked in premier intelligence agencies. He gained first hand experience in security and counter terrorism. He mostly write about security issues and counter terrorism challenges posed to the state of Pakistan.  He can be reached at niaz_tariq@yahoo.com