India-Afghanistan Relationship

Afghanistan–India ties, also called the Gandhar-Bharat Sambandha, refer to India’s diplomatic relations with Afghanistan. They have historical and cultural links employing Bollywood and cricket. In the 1980s, the Republic of India was the only South Asian country to acknowledge the Soviet-backed Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. However, relations deteriorated throughout the local Afghan war and Taliban rule in the 1990s. India supported the Taliban’s demise and became the region’s most significant humanitarian and rehabilitation aid source to the earlier Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Rather than military intervention, economic cooperation has been the remarkable point of India’s Afghan policy. 

About India-Afghanistan Relationship:

India helped anti-Taliban Northern Alliance fighters during the Taliban government. The Taliban’s demise in 2001 created a favourable atmosphere for India in Afghanistan. India also backed the Bonn Agreement (Afghanistan), a set of agreements to re-establish the Afghan state following the US invasion. India, too, supported US troop involvement in Afghanistan. India has emerged as one of Afghanistan’s top benefactors in recent years. 

Rather than military intervention, economic cooperation has been the remarkable point of India’s Afghan policy. India has partnered with Afghanistan to support the Afghan people in their efforts to build a peaceful, stable, inclusive, democratic, and pluralistic Afghanistan.

India does not regard Afghanistan as a battlefield for conflicting national interests, nor does it consider aid to Afghan rebuilding and development as a zero-sum game.

Pakistan claims that India’s foreign intelligence agency, RAW, is working undercover to malign Pakistan and train and assist insurgents, which India vehemently denies. However, nations such as Pakistan have accused the Indian intelligence agency RAW of attempting to smear Pakistan and train and fund terrorists. These employees are expected to number between 3,000 and 4,000. Indian people stationed in Afghanistan have frequently faced ongoing security threats, including kidnappings and several attacks (such as the February 2010 Kabul incident) targeting them.

Afghanistan’s ambassador to India, Shaida Mohammad Abdali, revealed in April 2017 that India “With over $3 billion in assistance, is the largest localised contributor to Afghanistan and the fifth largest contributor worldwide. Over 200 communal and exclusive schools have been created in India, and over 1,000 fellowships have been awarded to Afghan students.” 

Afghanistan-India relations significantly rose in 2011 by signing a binding partnership agreement, Afghanistan’s first since the Soviet annexation in 1979 in the history of India-Afghan relations. A top Qatar official revealed a substantial shift in India’s policy on the Afghan Taliban in June 2021, revealing that an Indian delegation covertly visited Doha to encounter Taliban leadership. 

This significant shift occurred over several weeks in the initial half of 2021 and most likely required Qatari intervention between India and the Taliban. India has not recognised Afghanistan’s Islamic Emirate.

History of India-Afghan Relations:

In the history of India-Afghan relations,  the relations between Afghans and Indians can be detected back to the Indus Valley Civilisation. Coming after Alexander the Great’s brief stay, the Seleucid Empire’s successor state ruled over what is now Afghanistan. In 305 BC, they conveyed a lot of it to the Indian Mauryan Empire as an alliance contract. The Mauryans inaugurated Buddhism from India and ruled over the province south of the Hindu Kush.

Northern India was invaded by several invaders located in what is now Afghanistan from the 10th century until the mid-18th century. Ghaznavids, Mughals, Khaljis, and Durranis were among them. Many Afghans started migrating to India during these periods due to diplomatic upheaval in their own countries.

Afghan politician Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan was a passionate supporter of the Indian National Congress and a vital captain of the Indian independence movement.

India’s Afghan Policy:

The critical elements of India’s Afghan policy are friendly relations with Afghan factions, tacit support for anti-Taliban forces, a greater emphasis on economic engagement rather than military engagement, humanitarian and development assistance, and support for the presence of Western powers, among others.

• India’s Afghan policy is in a dilemma
• Following US President Donald Trump’s unilateral decision to withdraw US forces from Afghanistan, a period of adjustment has become necessary
• The US withdrawal from Afghanistan affects the Indian strategy in Afghanistan and essentially alters the regional balance of power
• New Delhi’s diplomatic establishment is concerned about the Taliban’s growing supremacy in Afghanistan and the Taliban’s centrality in subsequent peace negotiations
• To understand the significance of Afghan stability for India, we should go into the history of India-Afghan relations and their role in various stages

India’s critical development programmes in Afghanistan. The following are the leading Indian programmes for economic integration and development assistance in Afghanistan: 

(1) Training and equipping Afghan security forces 

(2) Infrastructure – Zaranj to Delaram Highway 

(3) Pul-e-Khumri to Kabul Transmission Line 

(4) Salma Dam Power Project 

(5) Capacity for Afghan Public Administration (CAP) programme 

(6) Indira Gandhi Institute for Child Health (IGICH), Kabul 

(7) SAARC Telemedicine Project 

(8) Parliament Construction 

Conclusion:

India-Afghanistan has historical and cultural links using Bollywood and cricket. In January 1950, the two countries inked a five-year friendship agreement in New Delhi in the history of India-Afghan relations. The agreement authorised the formation of diplomatic and consular missions in each other’s countries and underlined the two governments’ “everlasting peace and goodwill.” On July 19, 1973, India identified the fledgling Republic of Afghanistan. In October 1975, Indian Remote Minister Swaran Singh paid a visit to Afghan Governor Mohammed Daoud Khan, and Khan reimbursed a visit to India in March 1975. The two countries legalised a trade treaty on July 7, 1974.