NEW DELHI-KABUL TIES: IMPLICATIONS
FOR THE REGION

Humera Iqbal

CONTENTS

Introduction                                                                                                                                                                                                        Top

Kabul is one place today where Indians can feel happy about their nationality. Generally they are cordially welcome. This warmth for India results from New Delhi’s unprecedented diplomatic activism in Afghanistan. The US war against the Taliban is another reason for warming up of relations that during the Taliban government had virtually remained cool if not hostile.

Afghanistan, a landlocked country, has had ancient ties with the Indian subcontinent. Their relationship has depended on the rise and fall of the empires in the region. Muslim rulers of India always regarded Afghans as the source of manpower for their armed forces. For centuries, India’s fascination with Afghanistan as a ‘cultural province of India’ is reflected in Rabindranath Tagore’s masterpiece “Kabliwala” which sheds light on the economic, cultural, political and emotional ties between the people of the two countries.⁽¹⁾ Today though the two countries neither share borders nor have any religious or ethnic affiliations their political and economic interaction remains considerable.⁽²⁾

Even before the British left India, Jawaharlal Nehru who considered himself as the true successor of the Raj cherished strategic ambitions towards Afghanistan. He once pointed towards the Hindukush mountains and said that, “the normal strategic frontiers of India are the Hindukush Mountains.”⁽³⁾ Perhaps he had the Indian zone of influence in mind. In the post British period though this diluted to common affiliation with the non-aligned group of countries of which Nehru was a strong adherent. The presence of the Indian business community in Afghanistan and Afghan traders in India has sustained economic relations between the two countries. The considerable community of Afghan nationals of Indian origin has also been a factor in the ties between the two countries.⁽⁴⁾

India’s policy towards Afghanistan                                                                                                                                                  Top

After independence, hostility towards Pakistan provided a new basis of friendship to the two countries. Afghanistan received Indian support in the non-aligned group and reciprocated it by backing India in the Muslim world.⁽⁵⁾ This relationship consolidated under the governments of former King Zahir Shah and Daud. Zahir Shah strengthened political and diplomatic ties with the Indian government by signing treaty in 1950, President Daud brought his country politically closer to India through trade and aid.⁽⁶⁾

The policy of non-alignment kept the two countries closer in spite of frequent government changes. Under Indian influence Afghanistan became a member of the non-aligned group of nations and of the Afro-Asian group at the United Nations.⁽⁷⁾

India and Afghanistan both adopted policies of neutrality and non-interference towards each other especially in sensitive areas of national interest such as Afghanistan’s neutrality in Indo-Pak conflict over Kashmir (though a pro-Indian bias remained noticeable in policy manifestations); non-interference in the 1965 and 1971 wars despite intense pressure on Afghanistan for creating trouble in the northern areas of Pakistan during the 1965 war and over issues like the Tibetan question and Sino-Indian border dispute.⁽⁸⁾

The Pashtunistan issue became a major problem with Pakistan after independence. Even before independence Kabul had claims over certain areas that constituted Pakistan and the matter had been referred to the colonial government by King Zahir Shah. When the issue was raised again after independence, Indians did not discourage Kabul but supported the latter’s claim and continued to help keep the issue alive till the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Therefore, in practice, the allegiance of the two countries to Panchsheela was merely lip service.⁽⁹⁾

After the establishment of Bangladesh, in 1971, India tried to depict itself as the regional power, an assumption that drew support from growing ties with countries like Afghanistan. During this time a New Delhi-Kabul-Moscow nexus emerged.

Along with the Soviet Union, India was the first country to recognize the new government of Nur Mohammad Tarakki in Afghanistan that came into power after the Saur revolution in 1978 in which President Daud and his colleagues were killed.⁽¹⁰⁾ The government of India characterized the Afghan coup as an internal affair of Afghanistan. Indians merely called it a political change that would not affect their past cordial relations.⁽¹¹⁾ On the one hand New Delhi welcomed the new changes in Afghanistan since Daud in his later years had started distancing Kabul from India and had got closer to Pakistan, Iran and other Islamic countries, while on the other it was not sure how far the Saur revolution would succeed in Afghanistan.⁽¹²⁾

However, during the Tarakki regime some differences emerged in New Delhi-Kabul ties over foreign policy. Kabul believed that countries which were involved in military and aggressive blocs should not be given an observer status as participants in non-aligned conferences. The Indian stance on this was totally different. Again, Kabul viewed all Socialist countries as natural friends of non-aligned nations, a stand not shared by India.⁽¹³⁾ But despite its differences over foreign policy perceptions with the new regime in Kabul, India enjoyed political leverage in Afghanistan. New Delhi provided money, military assistance, trainers, personnel and experts, etc. to Kabul. But in the post-Saur situation, India was no more the dominant actor but was acting under the shadow of the Soviet Union.⁽¹⁴⁾

New Delhi assured its full cooperation to the Khalqi leaders and as far as economic and cultural areas were concerned both sides desired to strengthen their ties further.

India initially expressed its concern over Soviet intervention in Afghanistan to both Moscow and the United Nations and shared similar views with Pakistan and agreed to work together on this matter. But on Indira Gandhi’s return to power in 1980, the whole official response reversed and the Congress government stopped opposing the Soviet action. Even before taking oath, Mrs. Gandhi told the Indian delegation at the UN to reverse the instructions of not supporting the Soviet action sent out by the outgoing Indian government.⁽¹⁵⁾ Her concern was the US military and economic aid to Pakistan. New Delhi’s stand was that the Afghanistan crisis could only be solved politically by peaceful means and all forms of foreign intervention must end to enable Indian efforts for a political solution.⁽¹⁶⁾

India feared the prospect of an increase in resistance from Islamic forces as a result of Soviet military presence. During this time Indira Gandhi’s government continued regular diplomatic and economic contacts with Babrak Karmal’s government in Kabul. In fact the only countries that maintained diplomatic interaction at the ambassadorial level in Afghanistan during 1989-90 were the Soviet Union and other communist countries, the PLO and India.⁽¹⁷⁾

When Najibullah came into power India extended logistical, military and financial assistance to Kabul against the Mujahideen who were militarily pressurizing Najibullah to step down. After the Mujahideen got control of Kabul, Najibullah’s family sought refuge in India. The Indian mission continued its function in Kabul until the beginning of 1994. When the Mujahideen violence grew India closed down the mission.⁽¹⁸⁾

Later on limited bilateral relations were maintained between a non-Pashtun Burhanuddin Rabbani government in Afghanistan and the Narasimha Rao government in India during 1992-96. But the Rabbani government was faction-ridden which enabled the Taliban to come into power in early 1996.⁽¹⁹⁾

The former Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan, J. N. Dixit, believes that New Delhi was bothered by Taliban not only due to their volatile Pashtun nationalism and Islamic orthodoxy but also because of their extensive aggressive engagement in sponsoring terrorism/violence in Jammu and Kashmir. The Indian view was that the Taliban government was immature and it would spread political and ethnic instability along with religious extremism in Afghanistan as well as in the region.⁽²⁰⁾

The Taliban were suspicious of and antagonistic towards India. One reason for that was that they claimed India supported the Soviet intervention. India denied this charge.⁽²¹⁾ New Delhi closed its embassy in Kabul in September 1996. Still at that time Indian policy in Afghanistan was to ensure continuity of people-to-people contacts.⁽²²⁾

The Taliban–Pakistan nexus was unacceptable to India as it marginalized India. In the following next five years till the US invasion of Afghanistan, India strongly opposed the student militia and actively supported to sustain the Northern Alliance. It gave the Alliance money, arms and sheltered the families of its leaders.⁽²³⁾ In 1997-98 it provided $70 million in aid which included two Mi-17 helicopters, while another three were provided in 2000 to the Northern Alliance. This way India strengthened the defence of the Northern Alliance through its Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and the Indian defence advisers provided technical advice to the Northern Alliance.⁽²⁴⁾ During 2001, India gave military equipment to Ahmed Shah Masoud worth around $8 million and Indian doctors and nurses treated Northern Alliance’s troops at a 20-bed hospital at Farkhor in Tajikistan.⁽²⁵⁾ India even operated against the Taliban from bases inside Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Jaswant Singh, then an external affairs minister, during his visit to the US in October 2001, urged the international community to lend its support to the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan headed by Rabbani as a legitimate government of Afghanistan. Jaswant Singh also stated that India never recognized Taliban as a legitimate regime.⁽²⁶⁾

Post 9/11 relations                                                                                                                                                                                              Top

In spite of the fact that India shared little common ground with the US regional objectives in Afghanistan, the BJP government in India welcomed the US invasion to oust the Taliban in 2001. Also an effort to break the Taliban–Pakistan alliance and install the non-fundamentalist Karzai government was seen as a blessing by India. Mr. Vajpayee clearly stated that India supported the war against terrorism because the defeat of Taliban and Al-Qaeda was in India’s ‘vital national interest’. A few weeks before the presidential election, Karzai made it a point to meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. New Delhi believed that Hamid Karzai as the Afghan President would help in consolidating the traditional bilateral ties and would also provide New Delhi with opportunities to broaden its prospects in that part of Asia.⁽²⁷⁾

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived in Kabul on a two-day historical visit in 2005. It was the first visit by an Indian head of the government since Indira Gandhi’s in 1976 in nearly three decades. Till this time Afghan President Hamid Karzai had paid three official visits to India. It signified Indian interests in regaining the old cordial relations with Afghanistan.⁽²⁸⁾

During this visit both the leaders agreed to fight together against terrorism, expand bilateral cooperation in diverse areas for utilizing each other’s resources and ideas to promote greater economic and cultural integration of South Asia. Manmohan Singh also announced aid and signed agreements of developmental projects in agriculture, education and health areas along with laying the foundation-stone of new Afghan Parliament building. Hamid Karzai shared his vision of restoring Afghanistan’s historic role as a bridge between Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent.⁽²⁹⁾

New Delhi also proceeded to get Afghanistan SAARC’s membership. To honour President Karzai, India also gave him the prestigious Indira Gandhi Peace Prize for 2005.⁽³⁰⁾

Even in early 2007, during his visit to Kabul, Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced an aid package of $100 million as its long-term commitment to stability, peace and progress. Both India and Afghanistan have realized the importance of Indo-Pak peace in the region. They are now trying to focus on the peace process because it has certain implications on the Indo-Afghan direct relations. They are also putting pressure on Pakistan and to some extent involving it in achieving regional security.

Indian interests in Afghanistan                                                                                                                                                            Top

India is taking keen interest in post 9/11 reconstruction projects in Afghanistan by playing an important and significant role. This active engagement is serving both Indo-Afghan interests. Afghanistan is very strategically located – Iran lies to its west, Pakistan on the east and south and the Central Asian states of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to the north. With the control of Afghanistan, land routes between South Asia and resource rich Central Asia and Middle East, especially the potential corridor of Iran, can be controlled or influenced. The various interests that India has in Afghanistan or through its land are discussed below.

• Economic interests

The top most dynamic of India’s Afghan agenda is to foster strong economic ties with Afghanistan. This is more to strengthen relations with Afghanistan’s new regime than just to seek an end to terrorist and insurgent activities.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that energy security was second only in their scheme of things to food security.⁽³¹⁾ Access to energy resources was very important for India to satisfy its energy needs because India came under the ranking of top five energy consuming countries. Its energy consumption rise would be highest after China in 2025. Of the 2.4 billion barrels of oil India consumed in 2003, 1.4 billion barrels were imported.⁽³²⁾ The estimated demand for natural gas in 2020 was up to 400 million standard cubic meters a day.⁽³³⁾

In pursuit of this need the Indian government attached great strategic importance to Afghanistan. Not just because of its being a land-bridge between three regions but due to the estimates of Afghanistan’s substantial resources of oil and gas. The US Geological Survey and the Afghan Ministry of Mines and Industry reported about the undiscovered petroleum resources in northern Afghanistan that ranged from 3.6 to 36.5 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of natural gas and 0.4 to 3.6 billion barrels (BBO) of oil. Estimates for the natural gas liquids ranged from 126 to 1,325 million barrels (MMB) with a mean of 562 MMB.⁽³⁴⁾ These estimates, if accurate, could mark a turning point in Afghanistan’s developmental efforts. This can even alter the geopolitical balance with an increase in the energy competition with Central Asia. Therefore India’s quest for oil and gas supplies from Afghanistan was a vital national interest.

In June 2005, India participated in the Trans-Afghan Pipeline project sponsored by the governments of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan along with the Asian Development Bank. This pipeline would be beneficial for all the participating states. Originating from Daulatabad-Donnez oilfield in northern Turkmenistan, it will reach Multan in southern Punjab of Pakistan and to India via Kandahar in Afghanistan. The Afghan government would receive royalties as well as energy which will be helpful for the rehabilitation process. India has also sent a composite team to undertake feasibility studies of various projects related to water and power sectors and to examine cooperation in non-renewable energy resources in Afghanistan.⁽³⁵⁾

Kazakhstan has huge quantities of oil and Turkmenistan contains large amounts of natural gas which can be very useful to India and Afghanistan. Both the countries are looking forward to utilizing these resources.

Since the 1990’s India has pursued open-market policies that have brought it under the pressure of competing foreign emerging markets. In Sept 2002, the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) held the biggest four-day ‘Made in India’ fair in Afghanistan. This made India the first country to market its goods in Afghanistan after the removal of Taliban. Due to its success, almost 60 per cent of the top Indian companies appointed dealers in Afghanistan while 10 per cent set up their offices in Kabul. Agreements were signed for the production of industrial and medical gas and for the establishment of a mineral water plant.⁽³⁶⁾

Both the governments also drafted a Preferential Trading Agreement (PTA) to promote the exports of Afghan goods to India. This way Indian private sector could participate in Afghanistan’s reconstruction process. According to the agreement India planned to build a 130-200 km road from Chahbahar in Iran to Kabul for the transition of Indian goods to Kabul. PTA also facilitated the exports of three items from Afghanistan i.e. dry and fresh fruits, medicines and herbs. Indian External Affairs Ministry gave $31.5 million assistance for Afghanistan reconstruction till 2003 and then $68.5 million for the next two years.⁽³⁷⁾

During Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Kabul, President Karzai expressed his desire for the membership of SAARC so that Afghanistan could economically integrate with South Asia — in both receiving as well as contributing through SAARC.⁽³⁸⁾ Indian efforts made that possible.

Kabul’s economic engagement with India would further make a significant step to its economy when it will become the eighth member of SAFTA. Kabul will receive a zero import duty benefit by India on 4,536 tariff lines, while it is reviewing a list of 744 items of export in the areas of agriculture and textile.⁽³⁹⁾

India also hosted a regional economic conference aimed at boosting Afghanistan’s war-devastated economy and involving its neighbours in the reconstruction process.⁽⁴⁰⁾

Agriculture remains the basis of Afghanistan’s economy. But due to continuous internal strife most of the land has been destroyed or used for opium production. When Singh visited Afghanistan they signed three MoU’s out of which one was for Agriculture assistance and research cooperation. India is working with the Afghan government to curb opium production. It has also extended humanitarian aid in the form of 1 million tones of wheat and $50 million in addition to already pledged $100 million grant for reconstruction.⁽⁴¹⁾

New Delhi is working on the construction of 220 kv double circuit transmission line from Pul-e-Kumri to Kabul and a 220/110/20 kv sub-station at Kabul. This project involves the construction of 600 transmission towers with an estimated cost of Rs. 478 crore which will be completed by 2009. An Indian company, Water and Power Consultancy Services Ltd., is constructing the Salma Dam Power project which will provide 42 MW of power in the Herat province. This Dam is also due to be completed by 2009. India has also supplied equipment for the transmission lines, costing around Rs.39.2 crore, in the northern Afghanistan province of Faryab.⁽⁴²⁾

India is also providing assistance in the development of mining sector in Afghanistan. The Afghan Minister for Mines, Mir Muhammad Sadiq, had requested Indian help during his visit to India in February 2005 for the development and exploration of mineral resources in Afghanistan.⁽⁴³⁾

To broadcast Afghan State television programmes, work on an Indian satellite is going on. The supply of more than 300 Tata buses through Pakistan enabled the re-opening of bus services in Afghanistan. Indian government has also supported the revival of Afghan National Airline Ariana and gifted 3 Airbus aircraft.⁽⁴⁴⁾ This shows deep Indian involvement in Afghanistan.

• Security interests

Two Indian citizens K. Suryanarayana, an engineer working on a telecom project and Ramankutty Maniappan, a Border Road Organization’s driver in Afghanistan, were killed by the Taliban to intimidate Indian workers working there.⁽⁴⁵⁾ In 2003, again two Indian engineers were abducted while working on a road project and another two Indians were kidnapped while working on a major highway reconstruction. There are hundreds of Indians working across Afghanistan in different sectors, that the Indian government has undertaken for the development and reconstruction purposes, who feel threatened. Earlier New Delhi had deployed 40 Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel to guard various projects undertaken by the government in Afghanistan. However, after these incidents India sent a team of 200 ITBP personnel to various locations in Afghanistan where Indians are working.⁽⁴⁶⁾ Still many companies working in danger zones are insecure.

Afghanistan is at the forefront of the global war on terror and at the core of concern for the people in Afghanistan. Violence and aggression in Afghanistan continues to be a major obstacle in all the sectors. Indian foreign policy interests in Afghanistan regarding security are two-fold — to control the re-emergence of Taliban; and to free the new Afghan security structure of anti-Indian elements.⁽⁴⁷⁾

President Karzai himself is under security threat and is not able to extend his full authority outside his palace. Indian government has committed its full support to work along with the Karzai government to control cross-border insurgency and hamper the activities of Taliban.

Due to the re-emergence of Taliban India had not sent its troops to Afghanistan because it would be an imprudent step. India thought it might lose the warmth of common Afghans who value their freedom and resent all kinds of interference as history bears witness. However, Britain is promoting the idea of India assuming a bigger security role in Afghanistan. Also that large number of Indian security/paramilitary forces in Afghanistan would be helpful for NATO forces.⁽⁴⁸⁾

The US also requested for the Indian military involvement in Afghanistan in aid of US and NATO forces. The US asked the Indian military to help train the Afghan National Army and the Police.⁽⁴⁹⁾ On 12th December 2001 India announced to send senior police officials to serve as advisers in the law-enforcement institutions.⁽⁵⁰⁾ India was also selected as a member of the Organizational Committee of Peace-Building Commission (PBC) under the category of top five providers of military personnel and civilian police for peace keeping operations. Under the PBC, New Delhi announced initial commitment of $2 million for the peace building fund, while 85,000 troops participated till 2006 in 42 missions.⁽⁵¹⁾

New Delhi and Kabul are working together to secure border and exit points to enforce strict border rules so that major trade routes can be secured. They are also trying to curb the illegal trade of opium and arms that makes warlords and extremists strong and weakens the Afghanistan government.

New Delhi gave 300 trucks, jeeps and ambulances to the Afghan National Army; officers of the Afghan National Police are undergoing training at India’s police academies. It also provided non-lethal military equipment worth $13 million to shore up the Afghan National Army. Since 2003, India is helping to modernize the Afghan Army and Police.⁽⁵²⁾

Thus, Indian government is focusing more on providing assistance, training and aid to improve security. Once this is achieved, the rest of the interests can be pursued smoothly with rapid results.

• Access to Central Asia

The main objective behind the “New Great Game” is to gain access to the resource rich Central Asian Republics. India has also increased its involvement in Central Asia not so much for its energy needs as to gain access to the cheaper markets and have a firm position in the region. Afghanistan acts as a land-bridge to Central Asia for India. In fact, India wants to turn Afghanistan into a warehouse for exporting its goods to Central Asia by using it as a gateway. President Hamid Karzai during his visit to India in April 2006 said that, “We will be very happy for Indian companies in Afghanistan to produce their goods and to have Afghanistan as a hub or launching pad for those products in Central Asia.”⁽⁵³⁾

India had managed to maintain friendly links with the CAR’s using its close ties with the Soviet Union. New Delhi regards Afghanistan and the Central Asian states as part of its “extended neighborhood.”⁽⁵⁴⁾ Through its greater involvement in that region