India Stands Relegated by Afghanistan

GURGAON, India - May 16, 2015 - PRLog -- According to an item published in the latest issue of Indian Military Review on his first visit to India by President Ashraf Ghani, on 28 April, both New Delhi and Kabul discussed a range of issues, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi underscoring a positive and constructive approach from the neighbours of Afghanistan in its quest to end violence. While conveying support to President Ghani's vision for peace and stability in Afghanistan, Prime Minister Modi said, "We have a shared interest in the success of an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned process. This should be conducted within the framework of the Constitution of Afghanistan, without the shadow of violence. Thus, Modi reinforced the red lines for reconciliation talks with the Taliban.

Giving details, the new issue of Indian Military Review, published from Gurgaon  without naming Pakistan, which has been accused by the previous Afghan government of supporting violence in Afghanistan, Modi said, "Its (process) success requires a positive and constructive approach from neighbours, including an end to support for violence."

Ghani, who visited China and Pakistan before coming to India, is believed to have a pro-Islamabad approach. President Ghani identified terror as a major challenge facing the region and said his government was determined to make Afghanistan the "graveyard of terror". Terror, he said, must be confronted and overcome and said Kabul's will should not be underestimated and suggested that state systems should rise to understand that terrorism cannot be classified into good or bad. Ghani was quiet on the defence and security ties in his speeches at Hyderabad House and Sapru House.

After talks with Ghani, Prime Minister Narendra Modi focused on connectivity

and transit arrangements with Afghanistan, leaving the decision of defence supplies to the Afghan side.

No mention of defence and security ties

Three and half years after India signed the Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) with Afghanistan which allowed deepening security and defence cooperation, the Indo-Afghan joint statement skipped mention of cooperation in these two strategic areas as the visiting Afghan President Ashraf Ghani met PM Narendra Modi. This omission was a departure from the public stance of the previous Afghan government, which had negotiated the October 2011 SPA with India that allowed New Delhi to supply defence equipment to Kabul, if required.

The only reference to the SPA was a carefully couched paragraph in the joint statement which said both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to patiently and systematically work towards strengthening of the India Afghanistan Strategic Partnership, with a clear focus on the long term relationship between them.

This shift has been anticipated, since there has been unease in Islamabad about New Delhi’s defence and security ties with Kabul. Ghani, who assumed office in September, has visited Pakistan to hold talks with the political and military leadership and is seen to be depending on Islamabad and Rawalpindi for its talks with Taliban.

India had also long delayed the supply of defence equipment requested by the Karzai government. Just before Ghani's visit, three helicopters were delivered to Afghanistan after missing several deadlines. They were expected to be delivered last year, but New Delhi had to equip them as per NATO requirements. India regularly trains Afghan officers from defence and police forces in its academies.

Ghani has visited China, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the US before coming to India. From his utterances it was clear that. in its new priorities, India had been relegated to the peripherry. He has also decided not to pursue the request for defence equipment from India. In any case India cannot substantially meet Afghanistan's requirements.

Pakistan is the new priority to obtain its cooperation for pushing the reconciliation process with the Taliban. Afghanistan has also started sending officers for training at the Pakistani military academy to allay Pakistani anger at Afghan officers being trained exclusively in India.

Afghanistan would also potentially benefit from the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project. But the Afghan polity is not unanimous on Ghani’s outreach to Pakistan and the Taliban. One apprehension is that Ghani is seeking to strengthen the Pashtun elements in the polity at the expense of other ethnic groups.

Pakistan has not given up its strategic ambitions in Afghanistan. It remains opposed to the Indian presence there. The West accepts Pakistan’s strategic oversight over Afghanistan, even when it has itself suffered from Pakistan's its duplicitous policies - providing safe-havens to the Taliban and abetting terrorist attacks there.