On September 25, 2025 India confirmed the delivery of fresh humanitarian aid to earthquake affected Afghanistan. The shipment had been successfully delivered to Kabul via the Chabahar port before the September 29 deadline for revocation of US visa waiver for the port.
The revocation of the sanctions waiver is part of the US’ strategy to build “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran. The waiver, issued under the Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act, had permitted India and other nations to continue work at the port without facing US penalties. Chabahar Port is of strategic importance for India as it provides a trade route to Afghanistan and Central Asia, bypassing Pakistan.
The Indian external affairs ministry stated that the recent shipment, consisted of three container loads of relief materials. The consignment included essential items such as food supplies, water purifiers, protein powder, tin sheets, sleeping bags, hygiene kits, water storage tanks, generator sets, family tents, blankets, essential medicines and other medical amenities.
In a Post on X, the MEA stated, “In continuation of India’s humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan in the wake of recent earthquake, 3 container loads of supplies of relief materials arrived in Kabul via Chabahar today and were handed over to Afghan authorities.”
In continuation of 🇮🇳’s humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan in the wake of recent earthquake, 3 container loads of supplies of relief materials arrived in Kabul via Chabahar today and were handed over to Afghan authorities.
— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) September 25, 2025
The consignment consisted of food items, water… pic.twitter.com/zxqPpjoEtt
India had already sent humanitarian aid to Afghanistan after a massive earthquake on September 2, 2025. This was confirmed by Indian External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar. Over 21 tonnes of relief materials were airlifted and delivered.
Afghanistan was hit by a 6.0 magnitude earthquake on August 31, 2025.
The epicentre of the quake was located in Nurgal District, Kunar Province. It had a hypocenter of 8 kilometres (5 miles) beneath the surface, and the shaking had a maximum Modified Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent) in Nurgal as reported by several media agencies. 3,000 deaths, 4,000 injuries and 8,000 collapsed homes have been reported; majority of the reported casualties have been in five districts of Kunar Province. Nearby provinces are also reported to be affected. It has been the deadliest earthquake to affect Afghanistan since 1998.
Indian Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi expressed his condolences to Afghanistan for the loss of lives as result of the disaster and promised to provide “all possible humanitarian aid” from India to Afghanistan.
Deeply saddened by the loss of lives due to the earthquake in Afghanistan. Our thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved families in this difficult hour, and we wish a speedy recovery to the injured. India stands ready to provide all possible humanitarian aid and relief to those…
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 1, 2025
In 2022, India delivered half a million doses of COVID-19 vaccines and 1.6 tons of medical aid to Kabul through the World Health Organization. It further continued to supply additional medicines and food grains in the following weeks.
“India stands committed to continue our special relationship with the people of Afghanistan and provide them humanitarian assistance,” the ministry said at the time. The Islamic Emirate expressed their gratitude to India.
In 2023, India decided to assist Afghan by supplying humanitarian aid in a total of 50,000 metric tons of wheat. Five consignments of wheat were shipped from India and milled and fortified locally by ten Afghan companies to produce 41,500 metric tons of wheat flour.
India is determined to follow a policy of close collaboration with nations such as Afghanistan, Bhutan, and Iran in order to strengthen its regional influence while in an effort to contain Pakistan, which stands accused of aiding, sponsoring and abetting Islamic terrorists in Kashmir and other states of India.
The Taliban's relationship with Pakistan has been unstable particularly due to the cross-border terrorism and Pakistani airstrikes on Afghan territory claiming to target the militant members of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a militant group that has repeatedly attacked Pakistani security forces. India has condemned the airstrikes. At the same time, Pakistan continues to accuse Afghanistan for harbouring anti Pakistan elements. In those regards, the Afghan Taliban have dismissed the Pakistani claims and have also blamed Pakistan of using military fire along the border to provide cover for anti Afghan terror elements to infiltrate Afghanistan.
Pakistan, a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the 2025–26 term, has been appointed Chair of the UNSC 1988 (Taliban) Sanctions Committee for 2025, and Vice Chair of the UNSC 1373 Counter-Terrorism Committee for 2025, along with Russia and France. This provides a further dilemma for Taliban given that the relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have gone sour. After Taliban’s rise to power in 2021, Pakistan hoped for a strategic depth into Afghanistan, however due to lack of compliance from Kabul to appease Pakistan, tensions have continued to erupt between the two nations. Due to Pakistan’s flawed diplomatic policies of opting for narrow military objectives over pragmatic diplomatic goals, it is no doubt that Taliban who is determined to be recognized as a functioning government is showing preference to India.
