India, Afghanistan Strategic Partnership Agreement
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Barat kumar is one of the intelligent and sane guy in India. Just like pakistan have Najam shetti
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A great guy kumar is,,,if you guys dont like someone then dont label it as traitor. Arundhoti roy is one of them..^^Its Hamid Gul
It seems MK Bhadrakumar went rogue due to his blind hatred for US.
Now dont say he is an ISI agent.
mayfair
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If you think MKB is bad, read the shite posted in October 6 issue of Al-Guardian. Make sure to read the comments section as well.
Al Guardian is really one of the most obnoxious papers out there. That is saying something considering that the Daily Fail is published in the same country and does take some beating.
Al Guardian is really one of the most obnoxious papers out there. That is saying something considering that the Daily Fail is published in the same country and does take some beating.
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Yes Mr. karzai's security has to be increased, I agree with you that pakis will not hit India directly, but may be our people in Afghanistan will be their target, we need more boots on ground asap.
SHASH2K2
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[h=2]India may pay heavily in future for supporting the Karzai regime | Simon Tisdall[/h]
India's decision to underwrite and, in effect, guarantee Hamid Karzai's feeble Afghan government is not wholly lacking in logic. In a strategic pact signed on Tuesday, the two countries pledged to co-operate on trade and counter-terrorism, and Delhi agreed to train and equip Afghan security forces. With US and Nato forces edging towards the exit in 2014, it follows that Delhi, the region's military and economic heavyweight and an aspiring superpower, should take up the strategic slack. But that is not how Pakistan or the Taliban will see the newly announced bilateral security, political and commercial "partnership". India may yet pay heavily for its presumption.
India's role, or "meddling", in Afghanistan is already viewed with enormous suspicion in Islamabad, which nurtures a visceral fear of encirclement arising from its bruising, losing wars with its far larger southern neighbour. Pakistan privately regards Afghanistan as its own backyard, to such an extent that it is widely believed to fund and collude with terrorist groups such as the Haqqani network in order to maintain its influence and keep the Kabul government weak and off-balance.
"Pakistan has pursued a double game toward Afghanistan, and using terrorism as a means continues," Karzai complained this week before travelling to India. Pakistan – or at least elements of its security and intelligence services – has been accused by Kabul of complicity in last month's murder of Burhanuddin Rabbani, the former Afghan president and peace talks negotiator. India, meanwhile, has detected Pakistan's hand in the bombing of its Kabul embassy in 2008 and again in 2009, as well as terrorist attacks on Indian soil. Pakistan denies all the allegations.
Demonstrating that he, too, can play both sides against the middle, Karzai offered reassurances on Wednesday that the partnership deal with India was not aimed at Islamabad. "Pakistan is a twin brother, India is a great friend. The agreement that we signed yesterday with our friend will not affect our brother "¦ the signing of the strategic partnership with India is not directed against any country. It is not directed against any other entity. This is for Afghanistan to benefit from the strength of India," he said.
Karzai's sudden attack of tact is not born of bonhomie. It reflects the political reality that a lasting settlement in Afghanistan is impossible without Pakistan's agreement, or at least acquiescence. Writing in the Washington Post, John Podesta and Caroline Wadhams of the Centre for American Progress voiced widely shared American exasperation that Pakistan's leaders were not using their unmatched influence to advance a constructive vision for Afghanistan. "Pakistani officials appear unwilling to articulate a preferred alternative strategy [or] a desired end-state "¦ instead, Pakistani engagement in Afghanistan for the past 10 years has taken the form of hedging and spoiling," they wrote.
Karzai's attempt to sweeten the pill may also reflect his desire to keep open the possibility of a negotiated settlement with the many-headed Taliban despite Rabbani's death and the continuing insurgent violence. The Taliban will not have forgotten India's backing of the non-Pashtun Northern Alliance in the 1990s, which eventually swept them from power in 2001 with US help. The idea of India playing an enhanced security role inside Afghanistan, as agreed in Delhi this week, is thus likely to be rejected by them as more unwelcome foreign interference. Karzai noted bitterly last week that if peace were ever to come to Afghanistan, his government needed to talk to Pakistan, not India or the US.
India has been expanding its involvement in Afghanistan since 2001, opening provincial consulates, embarking on road and infrastructure programmes, and donating about $2bn in bilateral aid. But this week's agreement represents a substantial and risky increased commitment. Nobody in Delhi is talking about Indian troops or security forces on the ground in Afghanistan. But the Afghan forces training role India has accepted marks it out as Nato's successor, and potentially a target for insurgent wrath.
Manmohan Singh, India's prime minister, seemed to brush aside such concerns when he met Karzai. "Our co-operation with Afghanistan is an open book. We have civilisational links, and we are both here to stay "¦ India will stand by the people of Afghanistan as they prepare to assume responsibility for governance and security after the withdrawal of international forces in 2014," Singh said. These are fateful words. They may come back to haunt the Indians once the Americans have gone.
Given the rapid fraying of US-Pakistani relations since the discovery earlier this year of Osama bin Laden living in a Pakistani garrison town, and given the deep unpopularity of the Afghan war at home, Washington is doubtless quite happy to let its bumptious new ally India pick up the challenge of preventing Afghanistan slipping back into civil war. It enables Barack Obama, or his successor, to claim that the war was not in vain and has been followed through with a regionally guaranteed settlement.
India's leaders one day may come to rue their vainglorious generosity in picking up the hot potato that the US, Britain and the rest all gingerly dropped. It seems a high price to pay for outflanking Pakistan.
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India's decision to underwrite and, in effect, guarantee Hamid Karzai's feeble Afghan government is not wholly lacking in logic. In a strategic pact signed on Tuesday, the two countries pledged to co-operate on trade and counter-terrorism, and Delhi agreed to train and equip Afghan security forces. With US and Nato forces edging towards the exit in 2014, it follows that Delhi, the region's military and economic heavyweight and an aspiring superpower, should take up the strategic slack. But that is not how Pakistan or the Taliban will see the newly announced bilateral security, political and commercial "partnership". India may yet pay heavily for its presumption.
India's role, or "meddling", in Afghanistan is already viewed with enormous suspicion in Islamabad, which nurtures a visceral fear of encirclement arising from its bruising, losing wars with its far larger southern neighbour. Pakistan privately regards Afghanistan as its own backyard, to such an extent that it is widely believed to fund and collude with terrorist groups such as the Haqqani network in order to maintain its influence and keep the Kabul government weak and off-balance.
"Pakistan has pursued a double game toward Afghanistan, and using terrorism as a means continues," Karzai complained this week before travelling to India. Pakistan – or at least elements of its security and intelligence services – has been accused by Kabul of complicity in last month's murder of Burhanuddin Rabbani, the former Afghan president and peace talks negotiator. India, meanwhile, has detected Pakistan's hand in the bombing of its Kabul embassy in 2008 and again in 2009, as well as terrorist attacks on Indian soil. Pakistan denies all the allegations.
Demonstrating that he, too, can play both sides against the middle, Karzai offered reassurances on Wednesday that the partnership deal with India was not aimed at Islamabad. "Pakistan is a twin brother, India is a great friend. The agreement that we signed yesterday with our friend will not affect our brother "¦ the signing of the strategic partnership with India is not directed against any country. It is not directed against any other entity. This is for Afghanistan to benefit from the strength of India," he said.
Karzai's sudden attack of tact is not born of bonhomie. It reflects the political reality that a lasting settlement in Afghanistan is impossible without Pakistan's agreement, or at least acquiescence. Writing in the Washington Post, John Podesta and Caroline Wadhams of the Centre for American Progress voiced widely shared American exasperation that Pakistan's leaders were not using their unmatched influence to advance a constructive vision for Afghanistan. "Pakistani officials appear unwilling to articulate a preferred alternative strategy [or] a desired end-state "¦ instead, Pakistani engagement in Afghanistan for the past 10 years has taken the form of hedging and spoiling," they wrote.
Karzai's attempt to sweeten the pill may also reflect his desire to keep open the possibility of a negotiated settlement with the many-headed Taliban despite Rabbani's death and the continuing insurgent violence. The Taliban will not have forgotten India's backing of the non-Pashtun Northern Alliance in the 1990s, which eventually swept them from power in 2001 with US help. The idea of India playing an enhanced security role inside Afghanistan, as agreed in Delhi this week, is thus likely to be rejected by them as more unwelcome foreign interference. Karzai noted bitterly last week that if peace were ever to come to Afghanistan, his government needed to talk to Pakistan, not India or the US.
India has been expanding its involvement in Afghanistan since 2001, opening provincial consulates, embarking on road and infrastructure programmes, and donating about $2bn in bilateral aid. But this week's agreement represents a substantial and risky increased commitment. Nobody in Delhi is talking about Indian troops or security forces on the ground in Afghanistan. But the Afghan forces training role India has accepted marks it out as Nato's successor, and potentially a target for insurgent wrath.
Manmohan Singh, India's prime minister, seemed to brush aside such concerns when he met Karzai. "Our co-operation with Afghanistan is an open book. We have civilisational links, and we are both here to stay "¦ India will stand by the people of Afghanistan as they prepare to assume responsibility for governance and security after the withdrawal of international forces in 2014," Singh said. These are fateful words. They may come back to haunt the Indians once the Americans have gone.
Given the rapid fraying of US-Pakistani relations since the discovery earlier this year of Osama bin Laden living in a Pakistani garrison town, and given the deep unpopularity of the Afghan war at home, Washington is doubtless quite happy to let its bumptious new ally India pick up the challenge of preventing Afghanistan slipping back into civil war. It enables Barack Obama, or his successor, to claim that the war was not in vain and has been followed through with a regionally guaranteed settlement.
India's leaders one day may come to rue their vainglorious generosity in picking up the hot potato that the US, Britain and the rest all gingerly dropped. It seems a high price to pay for outflanking Pakistan.
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thakur_ritesh
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there is a very interesting take.
will the pakistanis attempt something like a 26/11, i doubt, but then they can certainly keep doing low key terror attacks. we have to be mindful of the fact that we as indians are not too taken aback when a low key terror attack happens, at most we talk about it for a day or two and then all is forgotten only to be remembered when such an attack next happens, leave others aside, it happens with us on the forum, and it is only when a high profile attack happens that the whole country stands up and takes a note of, so the pakistanis could well resort to low key attacks which assures them little to no international pressure to rein in on terror outfits targeting india, and they keep doing what they intend to do.
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Musharraf is an idiot and that has been proven time and again. Though he thinks himself of as a wily old fox, but he has of late suffering from foot in mouth disease.
If they Afghans didnt take his offer, then it should be clear to him that the Afghans dont like and trust pakistan.
The idiot that he is, he wants to dominate Afghanistan like its backyard but have a problem with India pursuing a policy of dominating South Asia. Seiously, "budhape me aadmi satya jata hai", Mushy is a case study of it.
If they Afghans didnt take his offer, then it should be clear to him that the Afghans dont like and trust pakistan.
The idiot that he is, he wants to dominate Afghanistan like its backyard but have a problem with India pursuing a policy of dominating South Asia. Seiously, "budhape me aadmi satya jata hai", Mushy is a case study of it.
mayfair
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The Guardian is as obnoxious as they come. A sorry excuse of a newspaper patronised by some of the biggest bellends in the world.
This Tisdall wanker has the gall to threaten us with violence and death for building roads and hospitals?
The comments section is no worse than tripe like run*eenews.
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We are discussing it, and the news comes:
Plot to kill Karzai through bodyguard foiled - Times Of India
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If i am not wrong that was either yesterday or day before. Yes the Pakis will take any opportunity to take out Karzai.
LETHALFORCE
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This is another stupid article by probably the worst British paper. India is not putting all it's eggs in the Karzai basket. India
is playing it very smart with USA/NATO we are supporting Karzai with Russia and Iran Northern Alliance ties are stronger
than ever. Pakistan is erased out of this equation from both angles.
http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fu...hern+Alliance+with+Russia,+Iran&NewsID=252308
India looks to revive Northern Alliance with Russia, Iran
thakur_ritesh
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agree LF.
last year or was it '09, when there was this turn around on part of karzai and it seemed india was losing the plot after having invested over a billion dollars, we then looked pretty much isolated, we were not figuring well in the US led plan, and there was a cold shoulder from iran but since india has made some very smart gains.
today we are cooperating with the US, NATO on one hand but we are not isolating iran and russia either, infact a lot of ground has been made since, to the extent PM is to pay visit to iran (frankly i never thought this would happen with MMS as PM) and i expect the visit to happen pretty soon.
let us also take note of a turn around on part of turkey, which last year didnt invite us for a dialogue on a'stan but its a different story this time round.
this is where i see the UPA has made an amazing move, most of us tend to get very critical of UPA, but i think when things like these happen and at a pretty swift pace (very unlike us), we need to take note of the good work put in and acknowledge it.
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LETHALFORCE
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South Asian News Agency | Pakistan squeezed by Indo-Afghan pact
Pakistan squeezed by Indo-Afghan pact
Islamabad(SANA)Pakistan has been on the defensive as Afghanistan has cosied up to India. Kabul claims the recent murder of its peace envoy Burhanuddin Rabbani was plotted in Pakistan, and has accused Islamabad of hindering the investigation.
The new Afghan-Indian security pact could inflame Pakistan's proxy war against India and threatens Islamabad's regional ambitions in South Asia as its ties with Kabul and Washington hit rock bottom.
Pakistan has been on the defensive as Afghanistan has cosied up to India. Kabul claims the recent murder of its peace envoy Burhanuddin Rabbani was plotted in Pakistan, and has accused Islamabad of hindering the investigation.
Pakistan has been terse about the burgeoning India-Afghanistan alliance. "Both are sovereign countries and they have the right to do whatever they want to," Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said in brief response.
But the alliance undermines Pakistan's policy of courting Afghanistan to offset the regional superpower status of India, with which it has fought three wars since independence in 1947, including two over Kashmir.
Fearful of encirclement by its neighbour, Pakistan has long focussed on Afghanistan – arming radical warlords against the Soviets in the 1980s, backing Taliban in the 1990s and hedging its bets in the 2000s.
But the new strategic partnership sealed on Tuesday, which will see India take a bigger role in training Afghan security forces after already dishing out more than $2 billion in aid, threatens to isolate Pakistan further.
A right-wing English newspaper said the "very disturbing" pact would "create further misunderstandings" that would help neither Pakistan nor Afghanistan "if he (Karzai) wants his country to progress and prosper".
A military affairs analyst went further. "This pact will definitely lead to a more intense proxy war between India and Pakistan in Afghanistan, because India will be training the Afghan military and Pakistan does not consider this in its interest," she said.
When US-led forces invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 after the 9/11 attacks, Pakistan formally sided with the United States, but has been long accused of playing a double game with its old warlord and Taliban friends.
Those accusations reached fever pitch after the US embassy in Kabul was subject to a 19-hour siege on September 13 and Rabbani was assassinated on September 20.
Those incidents came after the US killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden on the doorstep of Pakistan's top military academy in May.
The United States launched a concerted campaign last month, accusing Pakistani intelligence of involvement in the embassy attack and demanding the state cut all ties with the Haqqani network, an Afghan Taliban faction.
And although Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani declared a "victory" in facing down US pressure on the Haqqanis, officials behind the scenes paint a less rosy picture of relations.
"Every time I think we've hit rock bottom, I find both countries have shovel in their hand and are digging further down trying to find a new bottom," one Pakistani security official said on condition of anonymity.
US options for action are limited. Pakistan, which says nearly half the US war effort in Afghanistan is routed through its territory, stonewalled the Haqqani accusations and last week the pressure began to ease off.
Some say Karzai's visit to India was an opportunity to take up where the United States had left off with its accusations – and strike a chord in India.
Yet despite the distrust, Kabul recognises that there can be no resolution to the 10-year Afghan conflict without at least acquiescence from Islamabad
Pakistan squeezed by Indo-Afghan pact
Islamabad(SANA)Pakistan has been on the defensive as Afghanistan has cosied up to India. Kabul claims the recent murder of its peace envoy Burhanuddin Rabbani was plotted in Pakistan, and has accused Islamabad of hindering the investigation.
The new Afghan-Indian security pact could inflame Pakistan's proxy war against India and threatens Islamabad's regional ambitions in South Asia as its ties with Kabul and Washington hit rock bottom.
Pakistan has been on the defensive as Afghanistan has cosied up to India. Kabul claims the recent murder of its peace envoy Burhanuddin Rabbani was plotted in Pakistan, and has accused Islamabad of hindering the investigation.
Pakistan has been terse about the burgeoning India-Afghanistan alliance. "Both are sovereign countries and they have the right to do whatever they want to," Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said in brief response.
But the alliance undermines Pakistan's policy of courting Afghanistan to offset the regional superpower status of India, with which it has fought three wars since independence in 1947, including two over Kashmir.
Fearful of encirclement by its neighbour, Pakistan has long focussed on Afghanistan – arming radical warlords against the Soviets in the 1980s, backing Taliban in the 1990s and hedging its bets in the 2000s.
But the new strategic partnership sealed on Tuesday, which will see India take a bigger role in training Afghan security forces after already dishing out more than $2 billion in aid, threatens to isolate Pakistan further.
A right-wing English newspaper said the "very disturbing" pact would "create further misunderstandings" that would help neither Pakistan nor Afghanistan "if he (Karzai) wants his country to progress and prosper".
A military affairs analyst went further. "This pact will definitely lead to a more intense proxy war between India and Pakistan in Afghanistan, because India will be training the Afghan military and Pakistan does not consider this in its interest," she said.
When US-led forces invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 after the 9/11 attacks, Pakistan formally sided with the United States, but has been long accused of playing a double game with its old warlord and Taliban friends.
Those accusations reached fever pitch after the US embassy in Kabul was subject to a 19-hour siege on September 13 and Rabbani was assassinated on September 20.
Those incidents came after the US killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden on the doorstep of Pakistan's top military academy in May.
The United States launched a concerted campaign last month, accusing Pakistani intelligence of involvement in the embassy attack and demanding the state cut all ties with the Haqqani network, an Afghan Taliban faction.
And although Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani declared a "victory" in facing down US pressure on the Haqqanis, officials behind the scenes paint a less rosy picture of relations.
"Every time I think we've hit rock bottom, I find both countries have shovel in their hand and are digging further down trying to find a new bottom," one Pakistani security official said on condition of anonymity.
US options for action are limited. Pakistan, which says nearly half the US war effort in Afghanistan is routed through its territory, stonewalled the Haqqani accusations and last week the pressure began to ease off.
Some say Karzai's visit to India was an opportunity to take up where the United States had left off with its accusations – and strike a chord in India.
Yet despite the distrust, Kabul recognises that there can be no resolution to the 10-year Afghan conflict without at least acquiescence from Islamabad
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now this is some encouraging news:
India has a training presence inside Afghanistan : US - Indian Defence
India has a training presence inside Afghanistan : US - Indian Defence
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This is a known thing. India has been training Afghans both in India and and in Afghanistan.
thakur_ritesh
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Yusuf,
i think what was being pointed out so far was the afgan army personnel being made to come over to india and then being imparted the training, indians going to a'stan and giving training was not being covered in the media, and if it was, it would be at most in a hush hush manner, at least i am reading this for the first time. please correct me if i am wrong.
what i am observing is with this pact signed, what was already happening is coming to the fore and being made public knowledge, but as i said the pact couldnt have been just about these few things, it ought to be very deep rooted. i am pretty sure some pretty extensive stuff went in which is what termed it "strategic", what is being talked in the media is just the visible aspect that was happening at best.
i think what was being pointed out so far was the afgan army personnel being made to come over to india and then being imparted the training, indians going to a'stan and giving training was not being covered in the media, and if it was, it would be at most in a hush hush manner, at least i am reading this for the first time. please correct me if i am wrong.
what i am observing is with this pact signed, what was already happening is coming to the fore and being made public knowledge, but as i said the pact couldnt have been just about these few things, it ought to be very deep rooted. i am pretty sure some pretty extensive stuff went in which is what termed it "strategic", what is being talked in the media is just the visible aspect that was happening at best.
Galaxy
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New phase in India-Afghan ties
Pakistan feeling uncomfortable
Along with this strategic pact, two other agreements on India-Afghan cooperation in developing hydrocarbons and mineral resources were signed further underlining India's role in the evolution of Afghanistan as a viable economic unit. The two nations agreed to enhance political cooperation and institutionalise regular bilateral political and foreign office consultations.
The strategic pact that commits India to "training, equipping and capacity building" of the Afghan National Security Services will certainly raise eye-brows, especially in Pakistan. Not surprisingly, Islamabad was quick to remind the Karzai government that it should behave responsibly. For a long time, India had been rather cautious in taking a leap into this realm so as not to offend so-called Pakistani sensitivities. The West further supported this posture by encouraging India to be a player in Afghan reconstruction efforts but actively discouraged India from taking on a more forceful security role.
But Pakistan's machinations continued with or without Indian provocation. Its proxies kept on targeting Indian interests in Afghanistan. As NATO forces leave Afghanistan over the course of next few years, no one expects the Afghan security forces to be able to face the challenge of the Taliban and other extremists without any outside help, and Indian training would be very influential in this regard. And India cannot be expected to ignore its genuine interests in Afghanistan just to keep Pakistan in good humour. So, the plan to train Afghan forces that was first mooted six years back by Kabul has become a reality now.
Meanwhile, as Pakistan decides to up the ante in Afghanistan, the Afghan government is seeking international support in tackling Rawalpindi's growing sense of adventure. The pact with India is Afghanistan's way of trying to deal with an increasingly menacing Pakistan. During his visit to New Delhi, Mr Karzai was categorical in suggesting that South Asia faced "dangers from terrorism and extremism, used as an instrument of policy against innocent civilians." He is seeking strategic pacts with the US and the NATO as well to ward off the challenge from Pakistan.
Mr Karzai's position has changed significantly in recent months. After calling the Taliban "brothers" and encouraging the insurgents to reconcile with the Afghanistan government, he has become more hardnosed in his appraisal of the Taliban and its sponsors in Pakistan. The Afghan President has now suggested that peace talks with the Taliban are futile unless they involve the Pakistani authorities who are the real masters behind the shenanigans of the insurgent groups. Mr Karzai's attitude has been particularly affected by the killing last month of former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani, the Afghan government's chief peace negotiator, by the Taliban. Kabul has been categorical that this assassination was plotted in the Pakistani city of Quetta with the active support from the ISI. The reconciliation effort, as a result, is in tatters.
Ever since the death of Osama bin Laden in May, the US-Pakistan ties too have been in disarray. The security establishment in Pakistan wants to retain its central role in the negotiations with the Taliban and to prevent the US from having any long-term military presence in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Washington has been signalling that it would not tolerate the continuing use of terrorist groups, aided and betted by the ISI, to kill Americans and their allies in Afghanistan. In a radical departure from the long-standing US policy of publicly playing down Pakistan's official support for insurgents operating from havens within Pakistan, Admiral Mike Mullen, the just-departed chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, described the Haqqani network as a "veritable arm" of Pakistan's ISI.
Much of the blame for the current turmoil in the Af-Pak area lies with the Obama Administration that made it clear that it wanted to exit Afghanistan as soon as it could without any concessions to the rapidly changing ground realities Pakistan's sponsorship of the Haqqani network has been an open secret for quite some time as has been the fact that the Haqqanis have been responsible for some of the most murderous assaults on Indian and Western presence in Afghanistan. The US was reluctant to take on Pakistan on this issue till such time as their interests did not come under direct attack.
As the Western forces prepare for a pullout, New Delhi is right in strengthening its partnership with Kabul. Strengthening the security dimension of the India-Afghanistan ties is extremely important for India as it is in New Delhi's interest to help Kabul preserve its strategic autonomy at a time when Pakistan has made it clear that it would like the Haqqani network and the Taliban to be at the centre of the post-American political dispensation in Kabul. It is true that given the logic of geography and demography, Pakistan cannot be ignored in the future viability of Afghanistan.
Mr Karzai was assuaging Pakistani anxieties when he suggested that "Pakistan is a twin brother" while "India is a great friend." But India and Afghanistan can certainly change the conditions on the ground, forcing Pakistan to acknowledge that its policy towards its neighbours has not only brought instability in the region but has also pushed the very existence of Pakistan into question.
The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Opinions
Pakistan feeling uncomfortable
by Harsh V. Pant
THE Af-Pak story takes another turn with the visit of the Afghan President, Mr Hamid Karzai, to Delhi earlier this week. In Afghanistan's first strategic pact with any country, Kabul and New Delhi signed a landmark strategic partnership agreement during Mr Karzai's visit. As part of the new pact, bilateral dialogue at the level of National Security Adviser has been institutionalised to focus on enhancing cooperation on security issues. New Delhi is hoping that Kabul will take the lead in defining the exact terms of this engagement.
Along with this strategic pact, two other agreements on India-Afghan cooperation in developing hydrocarbons and mineral resources were signed further underlining India's role in the evolution of Afghanistan as a viable economic unit. The two nations agreed to enhance political cooperation and institutionalise regular bilateral political and foreign office consultations.
The strategic pact that commits India to "training, equipping and capacity building" of the Afghan National Security Services will certainly raise eye-brows, especially in Pakistan. Not surprisingly, Islamabad was quick to remind the Karzai government that it should behave responsibly. For a long time, India had been rather cautious in taking a leap into this realm so as not to offend so-called Pakistani sensitivities. The West further supported this posture by encouraging India to be a player in Afghan reconstruction efforts but actively discouraged India from taking on a more forceful security role.
But Pakistan's machinations continued with or without Indian provocation. Its proxies kept on targeting Indian interests in Afghanistan. As NATO forces leave Afghanistan over the course of next few years, no one expects the Afghan security forces to be able to face the challenge of the Taliban and other extremists without any outside help, and Indian training would be very influential in this regard. And India cannot be expected to ignore its genuine interests in Afghanistan just to keep Pakistan in good humour. So, the plan to train Afghan forces that was first mooted six years back by Kabul has become a reality now.
Meanwhile, as Pakistan decides to up the ante in Afghanistan, the Afghan government is seeking international support in tackling Rawalpindi's growing sense of adventure. The pact with India is Afghanistan's way of trying to deal with an increasingly menacing Pakistan. During his visit to New Delhi, Mr Karzai was categorical in suggesting that South Asia faced "dangers from terrorism and extremism, used as an instrument of policy against innocent civilians." He is seeking strategic pacts with the US and the NATO as well to ward off the challenge from Pakistan.
Mr Karzai's position has changed significantly in recent months. After calling the Taliban "brothers" and encouraging the insurgents to reconcile with the Afghanistan government, he has become more hardnosed in his appraisal of the Taliban and its sponsors in Pakistan. The Afghan President has now suggested that peace talks with the Taliban are futile unless they involve the Pakistani authorities who are the real masters behind the shenanigans of the insurgent groups. Mr Karzai's attitude has been particularly affected by the killing last month of former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani, the Afghan government's chief peace negotiator, by the Taliban. Kabul has been categorical that this assassination was plotted in the Pakistani city of Quetta with the active support from the ISI. The reconciliation effort, as a result, is in tatters.
Ever since the death of Osama bin Laden in May, the US-Pakistan ties too have been in disarray. The security establishment in Pakistan wants to retain its central role in the negotiations with the Taliban and to prevent the US from having any long-term military presence in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Washington has been signalling that it would not tolerate the continuing use of terrorist groups, aided and betted by the ISI, to kill Americans and their allies in Afghanistan. In a radical departure from the long-standing US policy of publicly playing down Pakistan's official support for insurgents operating from havens within Pakistan, Admiral Mike Mullen, the just-departed chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, described the Haqqani network as a "veritable arm" of Pakistan's ISI.
Much of the blame for the current turmoil in the Af-Pak area lies with the Obama Administration that made it clear that it wanted to exit Afghanistan as soon as it could without any concessions to the rapidly changing ground realities Pakistan's sponsorship of the Haqqani network has been an open secret for quite some time as has been the fact that the Haqqanis have been responsible for some of the most murderous assaults on Indian and Western presence in Afghanistan. The US was reluctant to take on Pakistan on this issue till such time as their interests did not come under direct attack.
As the Western forces prepare for a pullout, New Delhi is right in strengthening its partnership with Kabul. Strengthening the security dimension of the India-Afghanistan ties is extremely important for India as it is in New Delhi's interest to help Kabul preserve its strategic autonomy at a time when Pakistan has made it clear that it would like the Haqqani network and the Taliban to be at the centre of the post-American political dispensation in Kabul. It is true that given the logic of geography and demography, Pakistan cannot be ignored in the future viability of Afghanistan.
Mr Karzai was assuaging Pakistani anxieties when he suggested that "Pakistan is a twin brother" while "India is a great friend." But India and Afghanistan can certainly change the conditions on the ground, forcing Pakistan to acknowledge that its policy towards its neighbours has not only brought instability in the region but has also pushed the very existence of Pakistan into question.
The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Opinions
