India Afghanistan Relations

India- Afghanistan Relations

This article deals with ‘India Afghanistan Relations.’ This is part of our series on ‘International Relations’ which is an important pillar of the GS-2 syllabus. For more articles, you can click here.

A brief history of India-Afghanistan Relations

1950 Afghanistan and India signed a “Friendship Treaty.”
1950 to 1978 India had robust ties with Afghanistan during King Zahir Shah’s regime. 
1978 People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) (Marxist Party) took power in a military coup , an event which is known as SAUR Revolution. They started series of radical reforms in Afghanistan and as a results conservatives started war against them.  
1979 Soviet Union entered Afghanistan after threat of removal of Socialist government in the neighbourhood of USSR was eminent and war started between the Soviet Union led Afghan forces and Mujahedeen allegedly supported by USA and Pakistan .  
1989 Soviet forces left Afghanistan after eminent defeat .  
1990s  Taliban rose to power in Afghanistan. India started to support the ‘Northern Alliance’ which was fighting Taliban in Afghanistan .  
2000s till 2012 Subsequent to the 9/11 attacks in USA, NATO interfered in Afghanistan under OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM (2001)  with the purpose to defeat Al-Qaeda,remove the Taliban from power &  create a viable democratic state .
– Taliban gave a tough fight and as a result, NATO stayed in Afghanistan for  more than decade.
– USA also worked for the capacity building of the Afghan National Security Force (ANSF) and it was thought that even after the US troops finally withdraw, the ANSF would be strong enough to prevent the Taliban from recapturing Afghanistan .
 
Post  2012 Barack Obama shifted the focus on ending the Afghan war.
Obama increased the US troops in Afghanistan during first term (called ‘Surge Policy’).
But his policy saw major turn in second term when he decided to  withdrew all but approximately 8,400 soldiers from Afghanistan
2016 In 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was conferred with Afghanistan’s highest civilian honour, the Amir Amanullah Khan Award.
Trump policy Trump regime wanted to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan .
Feb 2020 US president struck a peace deal with the Taliban on the issues of counterterrorism and the withdrawal of U.S. and international troops. Its terms were as follows
1. The United States to reduce its troops in Afghanistan from 12,000 to 8,600.
2. Release of prisoners and prisoner swap.
3. Recognition to Taliban and US will move to the United Nations Security Council to remove Taliban members from the sanctions list.
4. Taliban would prevent any terror group from using Afghanistan to threaten the security of the US and its allies.
5. Intra-Afghan Negotiations will be start  among all the stakeholders of the Afghan society and the Taliban would commit towards it.  
2020 ‘Intra-Afghan peace talks’ held for the first time between Afghan government and the Taliban in Qatar.

India – Afghanistan

  • In 1999, India became one of the key supporters of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance.
  • In 2005, India proposed Afghanistan’s membership in the SAARC.  Both nations also developed strategic and military cooperation against Islamic militants.
  • Afghanistan signed its first Strategic Partnership Agreement with India in 2011.
  • In 2016, PM Narendra Modi was conferred with Afghanistan’s highest civilian honour, the Amir Amanullah Khan Award.


Importance of Afghanistan for India

India has a vision about stable Afghanistan which would be the crossroad of trade, the role which Afghanistan has played for centuries.

Economic importance

  • Natural Resources: Afghanistan has a mineral wealth of about $1-3 trillion which includes Iron ore, Lithium, Chromium, Natural Gas, Petroleum etc.
  • Massive reconstruction plans for the country offer a lot of opportunities for Indian companies.

Security

  • A stable government in Kabul will not give a safe haven to terrorists that might reduce insurgency in Kashmir. In fact, at present, the extremists fighting in Kashmir have drawn inspiration from the resistance offered by Afghan Mujahedeen against the Soviets during the Cold War.
  • Afghanistan can help in the prevention of Pakistan from regaining its central role in Afghan affairs.

Gateway to energy-rich Central Asia

  • Afghanistan is situated at crossroads between South Asia and Central Asia and South Asia and the Middle East. 


Indian works in Afghanistan

  • India has contributed 2 billion $ for Afghanistan’s reconstruction (6th largest donor by amount).  Indian assistance has been largely focused on infrastructure, irrigation and defence.
  • India has helped in the deepening of democracy in Afghanistan by building its Parliament building (cost = $90 million). 
  • Other Indian projects in Afghanistan include
    • Salma Dam on Harihud river (cost = $290 million) will generate 42 megawatts and irrigate 75,000-hectare land. It was later renamed to India-Afghanistan Friendship Dam.
    • Construction of a 218 km road from Zaranj to Delaram for facilitating the movement of goods to Chabahar Port.
    • Committed to contribute substantially in improving the transportation system in Kabul & to donate 1000 buses.
    • India has built a 220 kV DC transmission line from Pul-e-Khumri to Kabul.
    • Constructing the Chimtala power substation in Kabul.
    • Rebuilding of the Habibia High School in Kabul.
    • Financing the establishment of the Afghan National Agriculture Sciences and Technology University (ANASTU) in Kandahar.
    • Building the cricket stadium in Kandahar.
    • Building a cold storage warehouse in Kandahar.
  • India and Afghanistan signed a Preferential Trade Agreement in  2003. In  2011, India removed basic customs duties for all products of Afghanistan (except alcohol and tobacco) giving them duty-free access to the Indian market.
  • Afghanistan is rich in mineral resources.   India has acquired rights to iron mining (from Hajigak iron ore reserves).
  • Accessing Afghanistan is the biggest problem for India because Pakistan doesn’t allow Indian trucks to pass from her territory & reach Afghanistan. To overcome this India has invested in a route through Iran (Zaranj-Delaram Highway). Chabahar port will also help in this pursuit.
  • India has also invested in TAPI. If the project takes off, it will help Afghanistan to earn a transit fee.
  • India has donated four Mi-25 attack helicopters to Afghanistan.
  • India train cadets of the Afghani Army at NDA and IMA.
  • A large number of Afghani students come to India to study through scholarships. 
  • Afghanistani Cricket Team has a base in Dehradun.
  • Indian Soft Power: Indian Bollywood movies and dramas are among the favourite of Afghani people.  In Afghanistan, the reason that Bollywood is popular is that it has deep echoes with the psyche of Afghan society. Bollywood cinemas are based on the theme of a larger-than-life Bollywood hero fighting injustice. This synchronizes well with the Afghan society, which has also faced and continues to face immense injustice.

APTTA (Af-Pak Transit Trade Agreement)

  • Treaty was originally signed in 1950 to provide access to Karachi port & Lahore dry Port to Afghanistan. Under the modified agreement in 2011, along with Karachi port and Lahore dry port, 
    • Afghan trucks loaded with Cargo meant for India can travel up to its last checkpoint at Wagah in Pakistan.
    • But no Indian goods can be imported and Afghan trucks would have to drive back empty to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border where they could load up with Pakistani goods.
Af-Pak Transit Trade Agreement
  • Afghanistan demands  Pakistan to open a transit route for India.  But Pakistan doesn’t allow this. Bitter India-Pakistan relations mean Afghan trucks carrying perishable fruit face long delays on both sides of the border.
  • In 2016, Ashraf Ghani asserted that if Pakistan does not allow its trucks to come back with goods from India, Afghanistan would block Pakistani access to Central Asia. But, despite the assertion by Ghani, Pakistan refused to budge.
  • Due to this, India is adopting alternate routes
    • India has built Zaranj-Delaram Highway and Chabahar Port for trade with Afghanistan in future.
Zaranj Delaram
  • India-Afghanistan Air Freight Corridor was started in 2017 (Bring Dry fruits to India & take medicine, garments etc. from India). The air corridor will be a big enabler to the bilateral trade and will send a strong message to Pakistan that despite its obstructionist behaviour, India will continue to engage with Afghanistan.

Heart of Asia – Istanbul Process

  • ‘Heart of Asia- Istanbul Process’ was established to encourage security, political and economic cooperation between Afghanistan and its neighbour.  There are 14 participating countries in this.
India Afghanistan Relations
  • 6th & latest conference was held in Amritsar in Dec 2016. Amritsar Declaration was adopted which called for
    • Immediate elimination of terrorism from Afghanistan 
    • State-sponsored terrorism was identified as a key challenge
  • Amritsar was chosen as a venue by India because
    • Amritsar lies at the heart of the Grant Trunk Road connecting Bangladesh to Peshawar.
    • India showcased that Pakistan remains an irritant in facilitating regional connectivity. India used the conference in Amritsar to press Pakistan to allow entry of trucks and transit to Afghanistan via the Attari- Wagah border.

Issue: US withdrawal from Afghanistan

Timeline

2000s till 2012 Subsequent to the 9/11 attacks in the USA, NATO interfered in Afghanistan under OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM (2001)  with the purpose to defeat Al-Qaeda, remove the Taliban from power &  create a viable democratic state.
– Taliban gave a tough fight and as a result, NATO stayed in Afghanistan for more than a decade.
– USA also worked for the capacity building of the Afghan National Security Force (ANSF) and it was thought that even after the US troops finally withdraw, the ANSF would be strong enough to prevent the Taliban from recapturing Afghanistan.
 
Obama Policy Obama increased the US troops in Afghanistan during the first term (called ‘Surge Policy’).
– But his policy saw a major turn in the second term when he decided to withdraw all but approximately 8,400 soldiers from Afghanistan.
Trump policy Trump regime wanted to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan.
Feb 2020 US president struck a peace deal with the Taliban on the issues of counterterrorism and the withdrawal of U.S. and international troops. Its terms were as follows
1. the United States to reduce its troops in Afghanistan from 12,000 to 8,600.
2. Release of prisoners and prisoner swap.
3. Recognition to Taliban and US will move to the United Nations Security Council to remove Taliban members from the sanctions list.
4. Taliban would prevent any terror group from using Afghanistan to threaten the security of the US and its allies.
5. Intra-Afghan Negotiations will start among all the stakeholders of the Afghan society and the Taliban would commit towards it.  
2020 ‘Intra-Afghan peace talks’ held for the first time between the Afghan government and the Taliban in Qatar.

Reasons for US withdrawal

  • Trump’s America First Policy: Trump is not in favour of wasting US ‘blood and treasure’ on distant lands (19th year and no solution in sight).
  • The realisation that the Afghanistan war cant be won owing to Afghan geography and society. Even after 19 years of war, the Taliban is controlling a large part of Afghan territory.
Area under Taliban Control

Reasons for US failure

  • Polity factor: The US failed to integrate the Taliban into Afghan government & National Unity Government was corrupt & inefficient.
  • Geographical Factors:  hostile terrain as well as guerrilla tactics used by Talibs.
  • Great Game:  
    • Intervention by global powers. E.g. U.S.-Russia tensions are creating space for proxies.
    • Intervention by regional powers. Eg: India vs Pakistan.
  • Role of Pakistan: ISI allowed senior Taliban Leaders to run the war in relative security. 
  • Socio-Cultural Factors:  nomadic and tribal society in Afghanistan comprises multiple tribes like Pashtuns, Turks and Persians, each dominant in different regions, asserting their own traditions and culture. The tribal factionalism didn’t allow the democratically elected government to settle in Afghanistan.

Consequences of US withdrawal

  • The resurgence of Taliban: Post US withdrawal, the Taliban with help of Pakistan can take over the whole of Afghanistan.
  • The breeding ground of Terrorism threatening the security of Central Asia and India.
  • Refugee Crisis as instability will result in the mass exodus of Afghans.
  • Threat to human rights: The Taliban wants to reimpose its version of Islamic law as the country’s system of governance.

Consequences for India

  • The upsurge of terrorism and act as a launchpad for attacks on India as happened during 1990s post-Soviet withdrawal. Eg: In 1999, Pakistani terrorists hijacked Indian Airlines flight IC-814 and landed in Kandahar.
  • On Kashmir:  Separatists in Kashmir are using the Taliban’s “victory” over the US  to inspire that they too could “defeat India”.
  • India has already invested 2 billion $ in Afghanistan’s infrastructure along with a large investment in Chabahar port with an eye on Afghanistan.
  • The ‘Golden Crescent’ comprising of Iran, Afghan, and Pakistan is a worry for India, especially with respect to the issue of drug abuse in Punjab
  • TAPI project may get jeopardised impacting the energy security of India.
  • It will lead to increased Pakistani involvement in Afghan policy which will disturb the Balance of Power in the Middle East & Central Asia in Pakistan’s favour.
  • Refugee Crisis will impact India. Due to the resurgence of the Taliban regime, a large number of Afghani Sikhs and Hindus will seek refuge in India.