The United States has granted India a six-month sanctions waiver to operate Iran’s Chabahar port, India said on Thursday, boosting New Delhi’s efforts to expand trade with Afghanistan and Central Asian countries while bypassing rival Pakistan.

India signed a 10-year contract with Iran last year to develop and operate the port. Earlier this month, it also deepened ties with Taliban-run Afghanistan by reopening its embassy in Kabul, which had been closed after the Islamist group seized power in 2021 following the withdrawal of US-led NATO forces.

CThe port, located on Iran’s southeastern Gulf of Oman coast, was originally planned with a rail link to Afghanistan aimed at strengthening the landlocked country’s economy through trade and reducing Kabul’s dependence on Pakistan’s port of Karach

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