#dnaEdit: Afghan connect

This week’s two-day state visit of Afghanistan President Mohammed Ashraf Ghani to New Delhi has marked a transition in Afghanistan’s relations with India. Besides, also impacting Kabul’s relations with its neighbour, Pakistan. Ghani’s predecessor Hamid Karzai was tough in his statements on Pakistan’s support for the Taliban. Karzai was seen as leaning more towards India. Now Afghanistan has a new president as well as a new situation in the country. Ghani thinks that Taliban and terrorism are no longer the grave challenges that are confronting his country. It is essential to remember that Kabul is not concerned with the Pakistan Taliban also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) but with the Taliban in its own territory. Taliban continues to attack Afghan security forces despite the fact that negotiations are on to bring many of their local chieftains into the country’s political mainstream. That is why — the focus of Ghani’s talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi — has been more about trade connectivity and less about terrorism and security issues.

President Ghani is keen that India and Afghanistan should have overland access to each other through Pakistan. For many years since the Taliban was overthrown in Kabul by the US-led international forces in November 2001, India has been sending its economic aid through Iran. As part of the Afghan Pakistan Trade and Transit Agreement (APTTA), Afghan trucks come up to Wagah, but they cannot come to the Integrated Check Post at Attari, a kilometre away. Prime Minister Modi has expressed the hope that India could become a partner in APTTA which would enable India to connect with Afghanistan through Pakistan.

Despite the tensions between India and Pakistan on security and diplomatic fronts, the trade between the two countries has not been halted. It should be then possible for New Delhi and Islamabad to agree to open up the trade route to Afghanistan. Pakistan may want overland access to Nepal and Bangladesh as a quid pro quo for India’s access to Afghanistan. Ideally, Afghanistan, which is also a member of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Pakistan and India, should arrive at a trilateral trade and transit agreement. India’s project of building the Chabahar port in Iran to reach Afghanistan from the western side need not be given up even if India-Pakistan-Afghanistan relations are thriving. Iran-Afghan relations are as crucial for Kabul as Pak-Afghan ties.

Ghani’s attempt to position Afghanistan as part of the Islamic world — in an attempt to strengthen his country’s ties with both Pakistan and Iran — need not worry New Delhi’s security experts. The Afghan president is also keen to situate his country in the regional and international circles. And this is where India figures in Afghanistan’s strategic blueprint. India has essentially retained its importance in this region because of the economic and technological aid it provides Afghanistan. The quantum of Indian aid has grown significantly from end-2001 onwards.

It is true that Pakistan has been quite apprehensive of India’s footprint in Afghanistan, though it is not in a position to counter the Indian presence effectively. Islamabad prevailed on the US to keep India out of military operations in Afghanistan. Pakistan believed this to be a strategic victory on its part, though in reality, the move was shortsighted. India’s participation in post-Taliban economic reconstruction of Afghanistan has made New Delhi a key and strategic player in that country. The new Afghan president is keen to further deepen such economic collaboration between the two countries.