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PM Modi to ask Tajikistan for lease of ex-Soviet airbase

Cooperation with Burma will grow, you will find us equal to the task, but by all means continue. Coming back to our area, the cards are stacked against india, Tajiks will gain immensely by CPEC and have pretty much nothing to gain from India. Same for the Russians, india is just a cash cow nothing more.
 
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after leasing the air base, India will show the world that how to operate a Air Craft less Air Base :D :D
 
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Cooperation with Burma will grow, you will find us equal to the task, but by all means continue. Coming back to our area, the cards are stacked against india, Tajiks will gain immensely by CPEC and have pretty much nothing to gain from India. Same for the Russians, india is just a cash cow nothing more.

Co-operation by whom, pakistan ? By the way Myanmar economy are also depending on india and they never spoil for the sake of pakistan after all pakistan is very much irrelevant to myanmar and its defense budget is just 2.5 billion dollar.Chinese proposal to sell few jets not concerned for us at all.

Economy of Burma - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Burma–India relations - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
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Poor guy went overboard. Nobody is poking the Bear. Thing about leverage is it works both ways. Russians need money and credibility desperately at International Stage. The whole of US, EU and Japan are on an offensive against them.

Any political support from India along with cash will help then alot. India has cash for weapons and fairly scrupulous when it comes to not reverse-engineering, China would just copy those weapons and sell then to Pakistan and others. So Russia is always a little wary of China as it has cost it billions in lost sales.

As things stands now however both India and Russia are joined at the hip. Oh! Russia every now and then can remind India how much it holds them by the balls by teasing weapons to Pakistan but that's it.

No, India still needs Russia more than vice versa. If Moscow stops all help-cooperation with India, your military will grind to an abrupt end. Since most/vast majority of your military equipment comes from Moscow .
 
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We need to establish similar airbases at srilanka and myanmar and the good news is that china already got a base in Bangladesh.We just cannot sit tight while our hostile and evil neighbor is conspiring against us 24/7.
 
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No, India still needs Russia more than vice versa. If Moscow stops all help-cooperation with India, your military will grind to an abrupt end. Since most/vast majority of your military equipment comes from Moscow .

My friend, India due to it's dependence of course needs Russia more currently, but if you see the recent procurement, all major acquisitions are non Russian. Russia is aware that US and Europe have opened their hardware for India hence the pressure tactics.

I am talking 10 years from now, Indian forces will look completely different and will no longer be dumping ground for Russian hardware. We will ofcourse still buy from Russia but only those things which offer more value than US and European goods.
 
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Do we really need that Airbase?......i don't think it will be good for India to go against Russia's will.... India should not do this.............:(

Russia is a friend & will surely support pur positive influence in the region

No, India still needs Russia more than vice versa. If Moscow stops all help-cooperation with India, your military will grind to an abrupt end. Since most/vast majority of your military equipment comes from Moscow .

Russia is a very close friend of ours,though I agree that in recent years the reoeationship is not what it used to be but our partnership is still very strong & it will only grow in the future having said that how will Moscow exactly afford its military Industrial complex if it sanctions India
 
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We need to establish similar airbases at srilanka and myanmar and the good news is that china already got a base in Bangladesh.We just cannot sit tight while our hostile and evil neighbor is conspiring against us 24/7.

How is that possible as Srilanka recently told China not to repeat its submarine docking in its port any time in future.Srilanka itself cancelled visa on arrival to pakistani's and started issuing eVisa to Indians.So do you really think that srilanka will favour pakistan at the expense of india ?
 
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IMPORTANTS OF AYANI AIR BASE FOR INDIAN DEFENCE




Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov's five-day visit to India that ended on Thursday might not have grabbed much media attention in New Delhi, but it is in Tajikistan that India is taking quiet strides toward furthering its ambition of becoming a global player: India's first military base abroad will become operational in Tajikistan soon.


During Rakhmonov's visit, the two countries signed pacts on strengthening cooperation in the fields of energy, science and technology, foreign-office consultation, and cultural exchange. India also offered to rehabilitate the Varzob-1 hydropower plant in Tajikistan.

Two days before the Tajik president's visit, the India-Tajikistan joint working group (JWG) on counter-terrorism met in Delhi. At the JWG meeting, the two sides agreed on bilateral mechanisms
India's foray into Central Asia is also fueled by its interests in the region's vast gas reserves. India is among the actors in the "New Great Game" - the scramble for Central Asia's resources. Bedi points out that "though India remains powerless to engineer or overtly influence the 'New Game', its size, military and nuclear capability make it a not altogether insignificant part of the complex jigsaw puzzle".

Not surprisingly, India's "forward policy" in Central Asia has generated unease in Islamabad and Beijing. Pakistan has perceived India's air base at Ayni as part of the Indian attempt to "encircle Pakistan".

As for China, steps are afoot to counterbalance India's rising profile in Tajikistan. Stobdan points out that Chinese-Tajik cooperation is growing. Visits by senior Chinese leaders to Tajikistan have been followed up with generous military assistance to that country. While growing Chinese engagement with the Tajiks is perhaps motivated more by the increasing US presence in the region, India is no doubt a factor weighing on Chinese minds.



to exchange information on various aspects of terrorism, including the financing of terrorism, that affect their two countries. India also offered to provide Tajikistan with counter-terrorism training.

This cooperation is, however, just the tip of the iceberg. Less visible and more significant is the India-Tajik cooperation at Ayni Air Base, near the Tajik capital Dushanbe. Work on the base is expected to be completed next month, and the base will become operational by the year's end.
India has come under pressure over Ayni Air Base from an unexpected quarter - Russia, its friend of several decades during the Cold War years. Russian arm-twisting seems to have resulted in India agreeing to joint maintenance with Russia of Ayni Air Base. While economic consideration might have played a role in India considering joint maintenance of the base, arm-twisting seems to have forced the decision.

India's new friend the United States, however, is not very worried about Delhi's foray into Central Asia, as it sees India's growing profile there as a check on Russian and Chinese influence in the region.






India is constructing three hangars at Ayni, two of which will be used by Indian aircraft. India will station about 12 MiG-29 bombers there. The third hangar will be used by the Tajik air force. The Indian Air Force (IAF) is also stationing trainer aircraft under a 2002 defense-cooperation agreement whereby India has been training the Tajik air force.

Neither New Delhi nor Dushanbe officially admits to an Indian air base at Ayni. Delhi maintains that it is only renovating this base. The first reports of India's intentions surfaced in 2002, and speculation gathered momentum in 2003 and into April this year when reports indicated that India's base at Ayni would become operational by end-2006.

India and Tajikistan were on the same side during the Afghan civil war in the 1990s. Both opposed the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and backed the Northern Alliance. In the late 1990s, India set up a 25-bed hospital at Farkhor, near Afghanistan's northern border, where injured Northern Alliance fighters battling the Taliban were treated.




According to Rahul Bedi, Jane's Defense Weekly's correspondent in Delhi, India supplied the Northern Alliance with high-altitude-warfare equipment worth US$8 million. The Northern Alliance also received input on strategy from Indian "advisers". Technicians from the Aviation Research Center of the Research and Analysis Wing (India's external intelligence agency) repaired the Northern Alliance's Soviet-made Mi-17 and Mi-35 attack helicopters. It was out of Tajikistan that India channeled this help to the Northern Alliance.

It is Tajikistan's geographic location that has drawn India to this former Soviet republic. Tajikistan shares borders with China, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. A narrow stretch of Afghan territory separates Tajikistan from Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

The significance of this region for India's security is immense. It is close to areas where scores of camps for jihadist and anti-India terrorist groups are based, and it is in the proximity of territory where Pakistan and China are engaged in massive military cooperation. Besides, Tajikistan is in Central Asia, a gas-rich region in which India has growing interests.

There are several reasons underpinning India's interest in a base at Tajikistan, one being the Pakistan factor. The Pakistani incursion at Kargil in 1999 laid bare the failure of Indian intelligence and opened India's eyes to the need for a military presence outside its borders, Phunchok Stobdan, research fellow at the Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses in New Delhi, told Asia Times Online. Such a presence in Tajikistan, India realized, would enable it to monitor anti-India activities in the region.

After the fall of the Taliban regime, India was determined not to lose the foothold it had gained in Afghanistan thanks to its ties with the Northern Alliance in the late 1990s. Delhi was anxious not to allow Pakistani influence to grow again in Afghanistan. This was behind India's decision to remain at Ayni/Farkhor after the fall of the Taliban, say Indian intelligence sources. A military base in Tajikistan is attractive as it also enhances India's options in the event of war with Pakistan. From Tajikistan, India would be able to strike Pakistan's rear.

It is its presence at Ayni that has enabled India to play a significant role in Afghanistan's reconstruction and stability since 2002. Since Pakistan does not allow India overland access to Afghanistan, India has had to channel its economic and relief assistance to Afghanistan through Farkhor. The IAF airlifts supplies to Ayni, which are then transported to Farkhor and onward to Afghanistan by road.

India's growing military profile in the region might have been prompted by the need to counter Pakistan's influence, but there is more to Ayni Air Base than India-Pakistan rivalry. A base at Ayni enables India to project power in Central Asia. It is testimony to the fact that India is no longer content with a geostrategic role in South Asia; its ambitions extend outside the region as well.

India has become the fourth power after Russia, the US and Germany to have a base in Central Asia. As a small but not insignificant player in the "New Great Game" in Central Asia, India announced that it had interests beyond its immediate neighborhood. With the air base at Ayni, India has signaled that it is a keen contestant in Central Asia's "great base race" as well.
 
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LMAO.:lol: So India of all people wants to try the old Russian bear??:rofl: Don't make the bear angry.:taz:

On a serious note though, India is too dependent on Russia for now, to be able to go against Moscow head on. Think India needs more time to reduced its dependency on Russia, for now Russia has just too much leverage over India to be honest.:buba_phone:
Indo-Russian ties are entirely quid pro quo, to state India is overly dependant on Russia is massively overstating the present situation.

Cooperation with Burma will grow, you will find us equal to the task, but by all means continue. Coming back to our area, the cards are stacked against india, Tajiks will gain immensely by CPEC and have pretty much nothing to gain from India. Same for the Russians, india is just a cash cow nothing more.
And what does Burma have to gain by cooperating with Pakistan?


CPEC, CPEC, CPEC, this really is the gift that keeps on giving isn't it? This is Pakistan's answer to everything Indian (despite the fact it is decades away from becoming a reality).

We need to establish similar airbases at srilanka and myanmar and the good news is that china already got a base in Bangladesh.We just cannot sit tight while our hostile and evil neighbor is conspiring against us 24/7.
A country whose defence budget is roughly equivalent to Belgium's needs to have more realistic ambitions.
 
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We need to establish similar airbases at srilanka and myanmar and the good news is that china already got a base in Bangladesh.We just cannot sit tight while our hostile and evil neighbor is conspiring against us 24/7.
Well our reputation is falling. Sri Lanka once used to offer visas on arrival to Pakistanis. Not anymore. Now its just a handful of african nations... call me cynical but I believe we need to improve our reputation. For that going against the terrorists, criminals and corrupt segments of society is a must.

Btw it would be worse if their was such a deal with Afghanistan too...
 
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For Russia ,Tajikistan is a near abroad .
I dont think that they will allow us for this base.

I think we should look for a joint control with Russia and Tajik for this base.
 
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to use as a training base for Tajik terrorists to send in to Pakistan?
 
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