Why in News?
- India will send its next consignment of wheat as assistance to Afghanistan under the Taliban regime via Chabahar port. The decision, that was announced at the 1st meeting of the India-Central Asia Joint Working Group (JWG) on Afghanistan in Delhi.
Key Points about the JWG-
- The JWG meeting comes after the India-Central Asia summit in January 2022, where the decision to hold a special contact group on Afghanistan was proclaimed.
- The issues of drugs, the export of terrorism and radicalism, and refugees have been the top most concerns for neighbouring countries in Central Asia.
- As per the UNODC reports opium production is up by about a third in the past year, after the Taliban took control of Kabul.
- Over 80% of the world’s opium and heroin is smuggled out of Afghanistan, which is a part of Golden crescent.
- An estimated 03 million people or nearly one tenth of the population of Afghanistan is addicted to opium.
- The JWG also highlighted the “importance of formation of a truly inclusive and representative political structure that extends the equal rights for all Afghans involving minorities, women, and girls.
Major Outcomes of JWG Meeting-
- The joint statement said that no terror organizations including UN designated terrorists should be provided sanctuary or permitted to use the territory of Afghanistan.
- India agreed to offer-
- Customised capacity building courses for UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) Officials and stakeholders; and
- Cooperation on initiatives to counter drug trafficking and rehabilitation strives for Afghan drug users, particularly women.
India’s Previous Assistance Measures to Afghanistan-
- Food Grains- In 2022, India signed an agreement with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) for the distribution of 50,000 MT of wheat that it has committed to provide to Afghanistan as part of a humanitarian assistance.
- India committed to delivering 75,000 MT of wheat to Afghanistan in 2020 to tackle the global pandemic of COVID-19 and associated issues of food security.
- India distributed 2000 tonnes of pulses to Afghanistan in 2018 to encourage food security, especially for children during times of drought.
- Medical Supplies-
- In 2020 India supplied five lakh tablets of Hydroxy-chloroquinine, 1 Lakh tablets of Paracetamol, and 50,000 pairs of surgical gloves to the Government of Afghanistan.
- India set up a Medical Diagnostic Centre in Kabul in 2015, providing the latest diagnostic facilities to Afghan children and generating goodwill for India.
- Infrastructure- Since 2001, India has pledged USD 3 billion towards rebuilding and reconstruction of Afghanistan.
About United Nations World Food Program-
- The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime is a United Nations office that was founded in 1997 as the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention by combining the United Nations International Drug Control Program (UNDCP) and the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Division in the United Nations Office at Vienna and was renamed the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in 2002.
- The agency’s focus is the trafficking in and abuse of illicit drugs, crime prevention and criminal justice, international terrorism, and political corruption.
- It is a member of the United Nations Development Group. In 2016–2017 it had an estimated biannual budget of US$700 million.