India sends wheat aid shipment to Afghanistan

India dispatched the first in a series of aid shipments containing wheat to Afghanistan as the country faces poverty and hunger since the takeover by the Taliban last year. The first convoy of 50 trucks carrying 2,500 metric tonnes of wheat left the north Indian city of Amritsar after a ceremony attended by India’s foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, India’s foreign ministry said in a statement. “India remains committed to its special relationship with the people of Afghanistan’’, the statement said. In total, India plans to send 50,000 tonnes of wheat to Afghanistan on an infrequently used land route through Pakistan.