Bomb rocks India embassy in Kabul

[Cheetah786]

Blast on Indian embassy in Afghanistan and then one in Pakistan i say some one is trying to stir up Trouble.

 

[Cheetah786]

Not really. India is one of the biggest investors in Afghanistan and virtually all of the money is being spent on critical infrastructure which is meant for all Afghanis regardless of their political, tribal or ethnic persuasion.

As per the BBC:

As far as I know there are no major defense deals or any other bilateral agreements that weigh heavily in the favor of one particular group.

The attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul is a setback for a country which has been one of Afghanistan's closest allies in recent years.


After the fall of the Taleban in 2001 India moved quickly to regain its strategic depth in Afghanistan.

It opened two new consulates in Herat and Mazhar-e-Sharif and reopened two others in Kandahar and Jalalabad which had been shut since 1979.

India also became one of Kabul's leading donors - it has pledged to spend $750m on helping rebuild the country's shattered infrastructure. (this is being done so india can carry out trades with Russian states and these transit routes indians are building will benfit india)

Funds have been committed for education, health, power and telecommunications. There has also been money in the form of food aid and help to strengthen governance.

India is erecting power transmission lines in the north, building more than 200km (125 miles) of road, digging tube wells in six provinces, running sanitation projects in Kabul, and working on lighting up 100 villages using solar energy.

It has given at least three Airbus planes to Afghanistan's ailing national airline. Several thousand Indians are engaged in development work.

'High profile'

Bilateral trade has grown rapidly, reaching $225m in 2006-2007.

"India's reconstruction strategy was designed to win over every sector of Afghan society, give India a high profile with Afghans, gain the maximum political advantage and, of course, undercut Pakistani influence," says analyst Ahmed Rashid, who has written extensively on the region.
Pakistan has had misgivings about increasing Indian influence in Afghanistan since the Taleban were ousted.

President Pervez Musharraf has openly accused Afghan President Hamid Karzai of kow-towing to India. Islamabad has also said that the Indian consulates in Kandahar and Jalalabad are funnelling arms and money to insurgents in Pakistan's troubled Balochistan region.
All this once provoked President Hamid Karzai, who went to university in India, to say: "If Pakistan is worried about the role of India, let me assure [you], I have been very specific in telling the Indians that they cannot use Afghan soil for acts of aggression against another country."

Analysts say Pakistan believes its influence is declining in post-war Afghanistan.

"India's success in Afghanistan stirred up a hornet's nest in Islamabad which came to believe that India was 'taking over Afghanistan'," says Ahmed Rashid in his new book Descent Into Chaos.

Also, local Taleban have attacked and kidnapped Indians in the country.

Changing fortunes

There have been explosions and grenade attacks on the Indian consulates in Herat and Jalalabad.

In January, two Indian and 11 Afghan security personnel were killed and several injured in an attack on the road that India is building, which will link the western cities of Zaranj and Herat with Kandahar in the south.

In November 2005, a driver with India's state-run Border Roads Organisation was abducted and killed by the Taleban while working on the road.

There have been other attacks on Indians too.

In 2003, an Indian national working for a construction company was killed by unknown attackers in Kabul's Taimani district.

In 2006, an Indian telecommunications engineer was abducted and killed in the southern province in Zabul.

India's fortunes in Afghanistan have swung back and forth for much of the past two decades

A staunch ally of the Soviet Union during the Cold War, India supported the invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.

This decision made India vastly unpopular among Afghans.
A decade later, it continued to back the Communist-regime of President Najibullah, while Pakistan threw its entire support behind the ethnic Pashtun mujahideen warlords, particularly the Islamist Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who were fighting the Soviet Union.
So when the Taleban swept to power and put an end to a bloody civil conflict among warlords, India was left without any influence in the country.

It ended up backing the Northern Alliance, which controlled territory north of the Shomali plains near Kabul.

Pakistan, on the other hand, backed and recognised the pariah Taleban regime and gained further strategic depth in the region.

Afghanistan's interior ministry says it believes the attack on the Indian embassy was carried out "in co-ordination and consultation with an active intelligence service in the region".

It is clearly alluding to Pakistani agents, who have been blamed for a number of attacks in Afghanistan.

We may never know precisely who carried out the attack.

But the bombing points to the "Great Game" still being played out between neighbours seeking to gain influence in Afghanistan


Energon Same article says why Afghans will have more then enough reason to attack Indian intrests in afghanistan No help from pakistan is required.

 

[Tiki Tam Tam]

After the fall of the Taleban in 2001 India moved quickly to regain its strategic depth in Afghanistan.

Just a small correction.


This is the meaning of strategic depth:

Strategic depth is a term in military literature that refers, broadly speaking, to the distances between the front lines or battle sectors and the combatants’ industrial core areas, capital cities, heartlands, and other key centers of population or military production.

The key questions any military commander must ask when dealing with strategic depth are: How vulnerable are these assets to a quick, preemptive attack or to a methodical offensive? Conversely, can a country withdraw into its own territory, absorb an initial thrust, and allow the subsequent offensive to culminate short of its goal and far from its source of power?

Commanders must be able to plan for both eventualities, and have measures and resources in place on both tactical and strategic levels to counter any and all stages of a minor or major enemy attack. These measures do not need to be limited to purely military assets, either - the ability to reinforce civilian infrastructure or make it flexible enough to withstand or evade assault is very valuable in times of war.

The issue is the trade-off between space and time; a classic historical case is Germany’s failure to knock out the Soviet Union in 1941–42. The Soviet retreat, in the face of the German attack, from Poland in June 1941 to the outskirts of Moscow in December 1941, allowed the Soviet Union to move its industrial base to the east of the Ural Mountains.

With Pakistan in between, it is not strategic depth.

 

[Energon]

Cheetah786, I've already said that India has for the longest time been a potential prime target in post #14. My earlier post however was to elaborate upon the fact that the current Indian involvement in Afghanistan is to promote social upliftment through civilian infrastructure development in order to improve their standing with virtually all parts of the Afghani society and not just back room, 'cloak and dagger' dealings with the Northern Alliance.

 

[IceCold]

It did not specify. But in the past, Afghanistan has accused Pakistani agents of being behind a number of attacks on its soil.

I just wish this could be the case in reality, Pakistani agents behind the attacks in Afghanistan. This puppet regime of Afghanistan has to know whom are they messing with.

 

[Tiki Tam Tam]

President Musharraf has also said:

In a September 2006 BBC interview, President Pervez Musharraf underscored the importance of his nation’s role: “Remember my words: if the ISI is not with you and Pakistan is not with you, you will lose in Afghanistan.”

The ISI and Terrorism: Behind the Accusations - Council on Foreign Relations

India has assisted Afghanistan in some ways. Nothing extraordinary or earthshaking. Things that any country should do.

What has Pakistan done for Afghanistan?

 

[Energon]

I just wish this could be the case in reality, Pakistani agents behind the attacks in Afghanistan. This puppet regime of Afghanistan has to know whom are they messing with.

Right now there is no information on any Pakistani involvement here; and even if this is true, the likelihood of evidence connecting them to this heinous attack is remote. Nonetheless in regards to your statement, history clearly shows that involvement and promotion of these kinds of operations has severely backfired upon Pakistan. It would be foolish to selectively glorify this nonsense just because the victim in this case is someone you don't like.

 

[IceCold]

Analysts say Pakistan believes its influence is declining in post-war Afghanistan.

Our policy is the main reason why this is happening. So why to cry over split Milk.

 

[IceCold]

Right now there is no information on any Pakistani involvement here; and even if this is true, the likelihood of evidence connecting them to this heinous attack is remote. Nonetheless in regards to your statement, history clearly shows that involvement and promotion of these kinds of operations has severely backfired upon Pakistan. It would be foolish to selectively glorify this nonsense just because the victim in this case is someone you don't like.

It has never backfired only after 9/11 when US who once itself was also the prime supporter of tailban suddenly decided to go otherwise. Also no matter what others think, my point was that we should maintain some consistency in our policy. Iran and syria still supports Hisbullah no matter what the western world thinks because they serve their interests. So should have we to the tailban. The aftermath of what we are suffering today is not because of What Zia started but because we could not keep our interests supreme.

 

[Tiki Tam Tam]

According to Weinbaum, Pakistan has two policies. One is an official policy of promoting stability in Afghanistan; the other is an unofficial policy of supporting jihadis in order to appease political forces within Pakistan. “The second [policy] undermines the first one,” he says.

The ISI and Terrorism: Behind the Accusations - Council on Foreign Relations

 

[Tiki Tam Tam]

Pakistan's support with military assistance of the US, China and many others is justified from their strategic perspective.

But your good old Zia, went beyond his brief! He had Islamic dreams of being the next Caliph and shift the Islamic centre of gravity from Saudi Arabia or Turkey. He encouraged these hordes to run wild in misconceived Islamism wherein it engulfed both Afghanistan and Pakistan. A self centred megalomaniac like Zia is hard to find!! Treacherous that he is, for power, he killed his mentor too. But the Creator has his ways. Zia a died in a most horrible manner and that too, if Pakistani sources are to be believed, through treachery. Good for him. He has ruined Pakistan.

These wild hordes having done their job, should have been contained and constructively used thereafter.

Now, these wild hordes are biting not only non *******, but Pakistan too!

I suspect that the ISI, which is a power by themselves, again as indicated by non Indian sources, is also working against the democratic ethos wherein by keeping these antics of these hordes alive, they are influencing the destiny of Pakistan. Gen Gul rants are important inputs in this connection. Mullahs assist the goal

 

[Tiki Tam Tam]

I come back to my question.

What has Pakistan done for Afghanistan?

Apart from spreading strife?

I maybe wrong. so let me know.

 

[JK!]

I come back to my question.

What has Pakistan done for Afghanistan?

Apart from spreading strife?

I maybe wrong. so let me know.

I believe alot of refugees from the Russian invasion headed east into Pakistan and some are still there in NWFP.

 

[Contrarian]

This attack will make India send in more troops to Afghanistan to protect its people there. I believe there are over 2 companies already deployed there-ITBP i think.

 

[Tiki Tam Tam]

ITBP is for protection of the road construction crew.

They are not military.