India’s Afghanistan Policy

The key elements of India’s Afghanistan policy include – friendly relations with afghan factions, tacit support for anti-Taliban forces, more focus on economic engagement than military engagement, humanitarian and development assistance, support to presence of western powers etc.

Background

India has been close to Afghanistan since the reign of King Zahir Shah (1933-1973) and recognized the Soviet backed communist government of DRA. During the Taliban Regime, India supported anti-Taliban fighters group Northern Alliance. The ousting of Taliban in 2001 led to favorable environment for India in Afghanistan. India also supported the Bonn Agreement (Afghanistan), a series of agreements intended to re-create the State of Afghanistan following the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. India also supported the presence of US forces in Afghanistan. India has emerged in last few years as one of the largest donors in Afghanistan.

The centerpiece in India’s Afghanistan policy has been economic cooperation and not that of military engagement. India has engaged with Afghanistan for the developmental and humanitarian work to assist the Afghan people as they build a peaceful, stable, inclusive, democratic and pluralistic Afghanistan. India neither sees Afghanistan as a battleground for competing national interests nor assistance to Afghan reconstruction and development as a zero sum game.

Key Development Programmes run by India in Afghanistan

The main Indian programmes towards economic integration and development assistance in Afghanistan include: (1) Training and equipping of Afghan security forces (2) Infrastructure – Zaranj to Delaram Highway (3)  Pul-e-Khumri to Kabul Transmission Line (4) Salma Dam Power Project (5) Capacity for Afghan Public Administration (CAP) programme (6) Indira Gandhi Institute for Child Health (IGICH), Kabul (7) SAARC Telemedicine Project (8) Construction of Parliament Building in Kabul (9) Support to Ariana Afghan Airlines (10) Regeneration of historic Murad Khane, Kabul (11) India-Afghanistan Foundation (12) School Feeding Programme & Back to School Programme etc.

Recent Developments

Extradition Treaty

In September 2016, India and Afghanistan have signed an Extradition Treaty to facilitate exchange of wanted terrorists and criminals. This increases India’s counter-terrorism cooperation with Kabul, especially in the wake of heightened tension with Pakistan.

Restoration of Stor Palace

In 2011, an agreement was signed between Aga Khan Development Network, Government of Afghanistan and Government of India for restoration of Stor Palace in Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Campus in Kabul. This building will house the Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

India-Afghanistan Friendship dam {Salma Dam}

In June 2016, Prime Minister Modi and Afghan president Ashraf Ghani had jointly inaugurated the Afghan-India Friendship Dam in Herat province in Western Afghanistan. This dam, earlier known as Salma Dam, is built on Hari River in Herat and comprises a 42MW power plant and capacity to irrigate 75000 hectares of land.

Bilateral trade

India’s bilateral trade with Afghanistan stood at $684.47 million in 2014-15. Though there is no direct access from Afghanistan to India, yet India is the second largest destination for Afghan exports.

Defence

Though India has always shied away from giving military support to Afghanistan, yet in December 2015, India delivered three Russia-made Mi-25 attack helicopters to Afghanistan to bolster its security.

Parliament building

In December 2015, leaders of two countries inaugurated the newly built Afghan Parliament building. India has constructed the new building at a cost of about $90 million, as a sign of friendship.

‘Heart of Asia’ Conference

India hosted 2016 “Heart of Asia” conference in New Delhi in April 2016 as a part of Istanbul Process. Istanbul Process aims at regional security and cooperation for economic and political tie up between Afghanistan and other ‘Heart of Asia’ countries for sincere and result‐oriented decisions. The Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process was jointly launched by the Afghanistan and Turkey in 2011. The main motives behind Istanbul Process were:

• The withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan, followed by reduced international engagement in their internal affairs
• A sustained incremental approach to implementation of the Confidence Building Measures
• Since Afghan problems not only affect Afghanistan but also the other nations in the region, it generated the need for strengthening trust and cooperation with the other regional economies, and thus contributing to the stability and prosperity of Afghanistan and other economies

Though Istanbul process has fine motives, but it is nothing more than a talk shop and its performance has been slow and tardy due to various reasons. These include: unclear foreign policy of the Afghan government and lack of political will in administration; conflicting agendas of the participating members such as Pakistan not being happy with India’s inclusion; China, Russia, and Iran view the process for US dominance in the region; older animosity between Russia and Afghanistan and Af-Pak tensions over Baluchistan.