Hamid Karzai has visited India probably more than any other country since becoming the president of Afghanistan – at least half a dozen times. He must have some good memories from the biggest democracy in the world as he has spent his college life in there. Karzai’s recent visit to India was, however, a different one. He was awarded honorary doctorate degree from a university in the northern state of Punjab.
Officials had said before Karzai’s visit that he would use his trip to India to drum up support from a long-time ally. Karzai’s spokesman, Aimal Faizi, said last week that Karzai would ask for “all kinds of assistance from India in order to strengthen our military and security institutions” during his talks in the capital New Delhi.
India has been generous in providing financial support for reconstruction of Afghanistan. Also, it trains a limited number of Afghan security forces. It is not clear what kind of military aid would the Indian government provide to Afghanistan other than training. Seemingly President Karzai has boosted effort to request help in the form of provision of military planes and other vital weaponry for ANSF from Afghanistan’s allies.
India might meet any request that would strengthen Afghan security institutions. However, it seems improbable that it would have boots on the ground after NATO withdraws its troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.
Currently $2 billion worth development projects are being funded by the government of India. Tens of thousands of Afghan refugees are currently living in India and thousands of Afghan students have been given scholarships in various universities of India. The people of Afghanistan have always welcomed Indian contribution as a chief donor to Afghanistan economic and social development.
The US and its allies are withdrawing their forces from Afghanistan in the end of the next year after handing over security responsibilities to Afghan security forces. It is anticipated that India and some other regional countries will increase their engagement inside Afghanistan.
India and Afghanistan have enjoyed close and friendly ties and the cooperation between the two has to be extended further in the future. Militancy has been a common enemy of both India and Afghanistan. Definitely, Afghanistan would need to seek support countries like India to keep terrorist groups such as Taliban at bay after NATO troop’s drawdown in 2014.