India to deny Pakistan strategic depth in Afghanistan

[Daredevil]

But are India's options not incredibly limited Sir? I mean unless India wants to put a sizable number of "boots" on the ground in Afghanistan and spend 10s of billions. What can India do that the US- by far the richest nation on earth with the most advanced military on the planet and some of its richest allies can't/have failed to do? After 2014 India will be left incredibly exposed in Afghanistan and anything with an Indian connection will become an attractive target thanks to the ISI- we have already seen this with the Indian Embassy attacks in Kabul.


What realistically can/should India do without getting sucked in like the US and Russians (which it can ill afford).

Why you think India doesn't have any options?. The ruling party as of now is majorly Northern Alliance and other tribe leaders who are strong allies of India. Since there is international support for a stable Afghanistan, it is in their interest that they hold Afghanistan together by supporting Northern Alliance & other political leaders by financial, military and ancillary support.. We should utilize this opportunity to make the ANA strong as well as help Afghanistan build and strengthen their institutions. Once they progress and self-sustain themselves, they will take on the unwashed Abduls like Taliban on their own. US military presence till 2024 will certainly help a longway in making this happen. Also, significant weakening of AL-Qaida and Afghan Taliban will certainly make things easier for the Afghan government.

 

[SADAKHUSH]

well certainly in the end pashtoon majority areas will have to merge with pakistan be it after 1 decade or 2

Afghanistan without pakistan is like human without food..

the reason karzai

Pakistan our twin brother, India a friend: Karzai - Hindustan Times

pashtoons brother are already suffering in afghanistan because of non afghan uzbeks..later on we can bring total afghanistan into pak but initial step should be merging the pashtoon majority areas with pak

You guys have big vision less dreams. Why not start with the cities which have gone haywire? Your leadership be it politicians or Military Generals have had only one mission that is to benefit themselves rather than the nation. Get your act together before planning any misadventure. The Afghanistan of 2013 is not going to be the one left on her own in mid 1980's by USA. They are going to have an army of 350,000 strong men and will be equipped with the arms and ammunition to be supplied by USA. Once that is accomplished than Pakistan will have to defend the border on East and West side as well. This is called "Karma" and it is a wake up call for your military establishment and you guys need to give up your obsession with India and desire to control Kashmir which in turn will give you the complete control of water flowing from Kashmir into rest of India. We will never let that happen.

 

[SADAKHUSH]

Your entire post is full of assumptions:

- Except the SCO is nothing but an ego-stroking organization for the Chinese and Russians.
- Majority denotes 50+1, therefore there is no Pashtun majority in Afghanistan.
- Americans are not going anywhere. Karzai is flying to Washington next week to ink a security pact through 2024, which may be extended if need be.
-How exactly will Pakistan secure strategic depth when no one dares to take a pro-Pak position in Afghan polity and their proxies are too weak to hold anything of value? If there is one thing Afghans can agree on, it is their hatred for Pakistan due to their support of proxies since 1992.
- And we have given massive iron blocks to the Indians. So what? The copper deal was not negotiated in good faith and the next government will take a serious look at it.
- The route may get chocked during the initial days of the war, but it might as soon open again. The route from Chabahar to Nimruz is populated by the Baluch who have no great sympathy for Iran, and the Iranian province of Sistan-Baluchistan will be of little consequence during an Israeli attack.


India has more leverage than Russia and China combined, by leaps and bounds. The latter countries can never hope to attain the cultural relativity we share with the Indians.

Thanks for clearing the minds of misguided fellow human beings. It is coming from the horses mouth who knows his people more than a fellow from the neighboring country who is dreaming of occupying the land of Afghan people who have always won the war against occupiers from foreign land. In the next war the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan should be redrawn as per the wishes of Afghan people.

 

[Virendra]

Why would any sensible Afghan want to merge with Pakistan, specially this Pakistan ??
Sorry, people think more practically than that, including the Afghans.
This attitude of 'You have no other choice except falling in line with me' is not going to get anyone anywhere.

 

[datguy79]

Thanks for clearing the minds of misguided fellow human beings. It is coming from the horses mouth who knows his people more than a fellow from the neighboring country who is dreaming of occupying the land of Afghan people who have always won the war against occupiers from foreign land. In the next war the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan should be redrawn as per the wishes of Afghan people.

I respect differing opinions, but as one member here once said: there are facts, and then there is fantasy/propaganda.

 

[Virendra]

Are we talking war now? Between Afghanistan & Pakistan? I doubt that would happen anytime soon.
Though the border skirmishes would be very frequent as after 2014 the would be Afghans waking up from the sleep and smelling the coffee.
As a freshly re-booting nation, they would settle in the new reality at their own terms and so I am pretty sure that sparring with Pakistan is bound to happen.
But war? No. Durand line is here to stay, at least for a decade or two.
After that, we don't even know very well what would happen of Pakistan, what to say of durand ..
We cannot take the back set and we also cannot appear as colonizers in Afghanistan.
Pakistanis would lose not time in screaming Jihaad saying 'India has sided with the Tajiks and Uzbeks to wipe out the Pashtuns'.

Regards,
Virendra

 

[DivineHeretic]

Why you think India doesn't have any options?. The ruling party as of now is majorly Northern Alliance and other tribe leaders who are strong allies of India. Since there is international support for a stable Afghanistan, it is in their interest that they hold Afghanistan together by supporting Northern Alliance & other political leaders by financial, military and ancillary support.. We should utilize this opportunity to make the ANA strong as well as help Afghanistan build and strengthen their institutions. Once they progress and self-sustain themselves, they will take on the unwashed Abduls like Taliban on their own. US military presence till 2024 will certainly help a longway in making this happen. Also, significant weakening of AL-Qaida and Afghan Taliban will certainly make things easier for the Afghan government.

One of the things that must be kept in mind is that bar pakistan,none of its neighbours will accept the return of taliban to the halls of power in kabul.The Russians,tajiks,especially Iranians have their own interests in afg,which fortunately for us is coincident with ours.
Post 2014,if the US really does make a major pullout from the region,we will see a regional powergame with pak-taliban on one corner and the russian led ANA/current govt on the other.Now if only our govt. develops a spine to provide direct assistance to the afgans.
India will have to prove it can play the big game.

 

[Virendra]

If we won this game, it will install us as a capable player who can tackle situations outside its borders.
Would be a good start on a long road I'd say.

 

[DivineHeretic]

I would like to add that it is imperative that we win this. It will strengthen our position vis-a-vis UNSC,which is the smaller of the gains.
Our access to CAR is hinged on our ability to secure a friendly government in kabul,which itself is a treasuretove of resources,which we will desperately need if we are to fuel our economy.
Then there is the need to prevent the jihadists from being freed up for war against us in kashmir,true their chances might be next to nil to recreate the scenes of 1990s, but we cant afford to have our strategic thinking boged down in kasmir,which was our biggest loss in the 90s.