No question of military involvement in Afghanistan: India

[jeypore]

New Delhi, July 1 (IANS) India Wednesday ruled out any military involvement in Afghanistan and underlined the need for greater international cooperation in restoring stability to the violence-torn country.
“Nobody has suggested that India should get militarily involved. India does not get militarily involved unless it is attacked,” External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna told reporters when asked if India was planning to involve itself militarily in restoring stability in Afghanistan.

“In the recent past, there has been a renewed international focus on the situation in Afghanistan and its linkage to Pakistan,” he said while recalling his discussions with his counterpart Rangin Dadfar Spanta in the Italian coastal city of Trieste last week.

“India has a direct interest in the success of the international efforts in stabilising the region, and has stood ready to play a constructive role in defeating extremism,” he said.

India will continue to strengthen Afghanistan’s economy and infrastructure, Krishna said.

The message was aimed at Pakistan, which is resentful of India’s growing influence in that country, and underlined India’s commitment to the reconstruction of Afgahnistan nearly a year after the attack on its embassy in that country.

The attack was allegedly masterminded by extremists in league with the Pakistani spy agency ISI. India has pledged $1.2 billion for rebuilding Afghanistan.

No question of military involvement in Afghanistan: India

 

[Peshwa]

^^^^ Very glad to see that we keep our hands to ourselves.....

Humanitarian and developmental aid is the best way to garner public sentiment and attention...Besides the Afghans are a beautiful people who have always maintained amicable relations with Indians....I think military intervention would reverese this disposition

Also...lets try not to give Pakistan and the Taliban a reason to reboot their old rhetoric.....No need to feed an issue that does not exist and besides...the US is doing the dirty work for us....we dont need another outsourcing contract from the US.....In this case....Buffalo NOT Bangalore

 

[luoshan]

India Befriends Afghanistan, Irking Pakistan

With $1.2 Billion in Pledged Aid, New Delhi Hopes to Help Build a Country That Is 'Stable, Democratic, Multiethnic'

By PETER WONACOTT

KABUL -- After shunning Afghanistan during the Taliban regime, India has become a major donor and new friend to the country's democratic government -- even if its growing presence here riles archrival Pakistan.

From wells and toilets to power plants and satellite transmitters, India is seeding Afghanistan with a vast array of projects. The $1.2 billion in pledged assistance includes projects both vital to Afghanistan's economy, such as a completed road link to Iran's border, and symbolic of its democratic aspirations, such as the construction of a new parliament building in Kabul. The Indian government is also paying to bring scores of bureaucrats to India, as it cultivates a new generation of Afghan officialdom.

India's aid has elevated it to Afghanistan's top tier of donors. In terms of pledged donations through 2013, India now ranks fifth behind the U.S., U.K., Japan and Canada, according to the Afghanistan government. Pakistan doesn't rank in the top 10.

Afghanistan is now the second-largest recipient of Indian aid after Bhutan. "We are here for the same reason the U.S. and others are here -- to see a stable, democratic, multiethnic Afghanistan," Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan Jayant Prasad said in an interview.

Such a future for Afghanistan is hardly assured, as the run-up to Thursday's presidential election shows. On Tuesday, a pair of mortar shells hit near the presidential palace in Kabul while Taliban insurgents attacked polling stations across the country, as part of wave of violence aimed at preventing people from casting ballots in the election.

Despite backing the Taliban in the past, Pakistan doesn't want to see an anarchic Afghanistan, say Pakistani security analysts.

"Pakistan is doing nothing to thwart the elections in Afghanistan and everything to help Afghanistan stabilize and have a truly representative government," says Gen. Jehangir Karamat, Pakistan's former ambassador to the U.S. and a retired army chief.

Yet India's largess has stirred concern in Pakistan, a country situated between Afghanistan and India that has seen its influence in Afghanistan wane following the collapse of the Taliban regime. At the heart of the tensions is the shared fear that Afghanistan could be used by one to destabilize the other.

"We recognize that Afghanistan needs development assistance from every possible source to address the daunting challenges it is facing. We have no issue with that," says Pakistani foreign-ministry spokesman Abdul Basit. "What Pakistan is looking for is strict adherence to the principle of noninterference."

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Reuters
India is seeding Afghanistan with a vast array of projects such as a completed road link to Iran's border and the construction of a new parliament building in Kabul. A view of the city, above.
The two countries have sparred repeatedly about each other's activities in Afghanistan. Indian officials say their Pakistani counterparts have claimed that there are more than the official four Indian consulates in Afghanistan, and that they support an extensive Indian spy network. For years, Pakistan refused to allow overland shipment of fortified wheat biscuits from India to feed two million Afghan schoolchildren. India instead had to ship the biscuits through Iran, driving up costs for the program.

The World Food Program, which administers the shipments, said the Pakistan government gave its approval for overland shipment in 2008 -- six years after the first delivery from India. "Why did it take six years ... is something that WFP cannot answer," a spokesman for the aid organization said. "However, we are indeed thankful to the government of Pakistan for allowing transit for the fortified biscuits."

Mr. Basit, the foreign-ministry spokesman, didn't respond to a question about the Indian food assistance.

India's aid has extended well beyond physical infrastructure to the training of accountants and economists. For a nation devastated by decades of war, these soft skills fill a hole, says Noorullah Delawari, Afghanistan's former central-bank governor and now head of Afghanistan Investment Support Agency, an organization that promotes private enterprise. "The country shut down for 20 years," he said. "We stopped producing educated people to run our businesses and government offices."

Some believe there is room for cooperation between India and Pakistan in Afghanistan since both countries share an abiding interest in its stability. "The opportunity is there," says Gen. Karamat, "if we can get out of the straitjacket of the past."

—Matthew Rosenberg contributed to this article.

 

[eastwatch]

It is all because of past and present wrong policy taken by Pakistan that India has successfully penetrated into Afghanistan. Pakistan cannot expect to reverse the flow when it is continuously supporting the Talebans, supplying them with all the logistics and encouraging them to fight against the govt in Kabul. Pakistanis may say that the central govt controls only the periphery of Kabul and not much of the countryside. But, this is same with all the past govts in that country. This is Afghanistan.

Instead of supporting the Talebans, Pakistan should get rid of this terror group, be friendly with whichever govt rules there and make best use of that relation to gain economically by opening trade relationship with the central asian republics thru that country. It is a matter of time that India will no more be digging at Pakistan's backyard. Pakistan needs vision and pragmatism. Pakistan wants to win all the wars with guns. But, the real war is economy.

 

[xebex]

Nobody can stop India morally in this issue. India is reconstructing Afghanistan's war torn civilian sector and its infrastructure. If India can help restore Afghanistan into a sustainable democratic functioning soceity then supporting India in this regard should be in Pakistan's interest. Nobody wants an unstable country as their neighbour.

 

[GLOBAL HAWK]

USA and the world community appreciates the Efforts of Indian Govt in Afghanistan.

The region has been a troubled one for 3 decades. The only way for a better future for afghans is HELP.

I personally applaud countries like India who have been working in developing basic civil reconstruction work.

Some pakistani members might disagree to an extent saying that they smell some Spicy Indian curry cooking inside Afghanistan.
They are entrusted to their view and I to my.

 

[Brahm0s]

No question of indian military involvement in afghanistan 'FOR NOW'. Dare india and am sure indian military would be in afghanistan along with afghan army chanting 'afghan-indian' bhai bhai. Right now building afghanistan is important. Pak and taliban done too much damage in afghanistan in past. So building them first is our priorrity. Our leaders cant stop saying how much afghans loves india and how much they respect india whenever we indians go there. Long live afghanistan. Cheers.

 

[ratolz]

As NATO is already present, there is no reason of military involvement in Afghanistan also we have many things to solve at home + Afghan people will also not like this move of India . Instead civil help will not only bring respect but also its more constructive than military help.