Recent Developments:
- The President of Afghanistan, Mr. Ashraf Ghani, has recently completed a successful visit to India.
- India is contemplating to enhance its security ties with Afghanistan through:
– Offering training to Afghan forces
– Providing military hardware
- This marks a significant shift from India's previous stance of only providing development assistance to Afghanistan.
- India has proposed an aid package of $1 billion for Afghanistan.
- India is the 5 th largest donor to Afghanistan, having provided $2 billion in reconstruction assistance since 2001.
- The recent asylum request made by Balochi leader Brahamdagh Bugti in India.
This development highlights an important area for discussion and can be a significant topic in the mains exam. The discussion can provide valuable points that can be used as strong arguments in the exam.
Is there a Strategic Convergence evolving between India and Afghanistan?
- Yes, there is a possibility.
- For the ‘Strategic Partnership Agreement,’ Afghanistan has always seen India as a preferred choice.
- Although the political leadership of Afghanistan has always been in favor of this idea, it could not be realized due to political obstacles from the Indian political leadership.
- Now, the Indian government is eager to move forward with Afghanistan on such a strategic partnership agreement.
Is Afghanistan's current policy a departure from the past or a continuation?
- Yes, to some extent. After the election of current President Mr. Ashraf Ghani, Afghanistan has been attempting to strengthen its relations with Pakistan, keeping India in the backdrop.
- This policy of Afghanistan has not been successful in achieving its objectives, hence the time is ripe to strengthen India-Afghanistan ties, which is also a desire of Afghanistan.
What could be the reason for India's change in stance with respect to its role in Afghanistan, such as providing military hardware to the country?
- It is a part of the strategic partnership agreement with Afghanistan.
- Hence, there is nothing that is not in consensus between the two countries from a strategic perspective.
- The common hostility towards Pakistan by both Afghanistan and India also plays a role in this correlation.
- However, concerns exist about whether Afghanistan would turn towards Pakistan again if Pakistan changes its stance towards Afghanistan, as it did when President Ashraf Ghani initially came to power.
- Therefore, while being cautious, India also needs to welcome Afghanistan without any reservations at this stage.
Should India willingly engage in the Afghan civil war?
- Afghanistan has undergone significant changes in the last 20 years.
- The Taliban has been confined to certain pockets of the country and is certainly kept away from major power centers like Kabul.
- However, India needs to consider whether it should design its policy relations with Afghanistan based on influences from Pakistan or pursue its own independent policy.
Impact on Pakistan
- Pakistan has always maintained that India's closeness with Afghanistan would be detrimental to its interests.
- Some argue that India's relationship with Nepal is similar to Pakistan's relationship with Afghanistan.
- However, this is factually incorrect as India's policies with Nepal are peace-loving, developmental, and have faith in the Nepalese people, which is the opposite of Pakistan's role in Afghanistan.
- The dilemma for Afghan leadership is that, while it seems impossible to resolve Afghanistan's internal conflict without Pakistan, Pakistan's past record of creating unrest within Afghanistan is very discouraging.
- It is important to note that the development of the Chabahar port in Iran will provide an alternative to Afghanistan for Pakistan's port facilities.
Terrorism
- This is a common issue in many respects.
- Terrorists are trained and manipulated in Pakistan and sent to both sides of the Pakistan border.
- The objective in Afghanistan is to destabilize the state and its control.
- The objective in India is to destabilize and control the Jammu and Kashmir region.
- Thus, the objectives and methods are similar.
Role of the United States
- For the past two years, it has been trying to maintain its stand by keeping the unity government in Afghanistan.
- It is hoped that the new US administration would assist Afghanistan in stabilizing itself.
- However, this is considered to be a temporary shift.
Future Course of Action
- India should not concern itself with Afghanistan's internal crisis as it is very unpredictable.
- It should be guided by India's independent policy as our ties with Afghanistan are historical.
- As India has been primarily involved in development work in Afghanistan, as long as Afghanistan has a government that is interested in maintaining peace, sovereignty, and territorial dignity, it will help in furthering ties with India.
Practice Question:
Terrorism has been a common problem for both India and Afghanistan. Discuss how this problem can be addressed through mutual cooperation. What could be the impact of such cooperation on India-Pakistan relations? (250 words)
