Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Kabul visit marked a key milestone in the long-standing cordial relations between Afghanistan and India. During Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Afghanistan, the new compound of the Afghan parliament  was inaugurated and the country delivered three fighter helicopters to Afghanistan. During his visit to Kabul, Mr. Modi called on the regional countries and Afghanistan’s neighbors to cooperate for peace and stability in Afghanistan. He said that a secure and stable Afghanistan as a hub for Ideas, trade, energy and investments in the region would benefit all regional countries. He added that aimed on this goal, India strives to connect Afghanistan to Iran’s Chabahar port. The Indian leader expressed hope that Pakistan would help in the future to connect Afghanistan to the South Asian nations and beyond.

The visit by the Indian Prime Minister to Afghanistan is overwhelmingly hailed by Afghans and the country’s activists and political spectrum. India has won hearts and minds of Afghans. Afghans overwhelmingly view India as a helpful and trustworthy friend for Afghanistan. India has played a crucial role in helping reconstruction and development of Afghanistan in the past over a decade, and is set to continue to be an indispensible security and economic partner in the future. India has had a major presence in Afghanistan’s economy. Many Indian companies have been running reconstruction and development projects in the past over a decade. The two countries signed a long-term strategic partnership agreement during former Afghan president Hamid Karzai. The landmark visit of the Indian Prime Minister to Kabul is meant the country’s crucial role in helping reconstruction and development of Afghanistan. During his visit, Indian Prime Minister is also committed to provid new aid packages for Afghanistan’s reconstructions and economic sector.

India has been one of the major donor countries for development of Afghanistan. In addition to funding of the new compound of the Afghan parliament, the Salma dam in western Afghanistan is one of the major projects funded by New Delhi. The country is undoubtedly the biggest supporter of Afghanistan in developing the country’s human resources and skilled labor forces, training and providing expertise to thousands of Afghan youths. India has been providing scholarships on annual basis for Afghan students to get higher education and return to the country as skilled work force. Struggling to boost Afghanistan’s defense capabilities against the insurgent groups, former president of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai demanded India to provide Afghanistan with heavy weaponry including tanks and helicopters. Since the signing of the strategic partnership between Afghanistan and India, India has moved to boost the country’s cooperation with Afghanistan in security and defense areas to a new level.

For sustainable stability and development, Afghanistan needs to count on not only on its Western backers but also on friendly regional countries. While the West is withdrawing from Afghanistan and the NATO-led coalition is shrinking, long-term allies could play key roles in helping peace and stability in Afghanistan and developing the country’s defense capabilities as it is coping with the insurgency. India has responded positively to Afghanistan’s request for weaponry and ammunition for the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). It can play a crucial role in supporting ANSF battling the Taliban and other insurgent groups in terms of training, equipment and weaponry.

India is a true friend for Afghanistan in all seasons. India’s contribution to building the post-Taliban Afghanistan aimed at shaping a modern and peaceful country has been significant. Afghanistan needs to continue to expand relations with India in all areas including security, education, and economic areas. While on one hand, India and Afghanistan need to improve relations and expand economic and security cooperation, on the other hand, both countries need to assure other countries that improved relations between Afghanistan and India would not be against interests of any other country. The mutual relations between India and Afghanistan should be focused at promoting peace and stability in Afghanistan and the whole region. Such mutual relations focusing on trade and economic cooperation would benefit all regional countries.

Pakistan has long been suspicious of Indian presence in Afghanistan. This is while Afghanistan needs to improve relations with the two South Asian countries and maintain balanced and friendly relations with both countries. The reason for this is obvious. Pakistan has a major say in Afghanistan’s security and stability, while India has always played an indispensible role in development of Afghanistan. While expanding bilateral relations, India and Afghanistan need to do more to assure Pakistan of the peaceful nature of the improvement of relations between the two countries. Afghanistan needs to develop its relations with the regional and neighboring countries with the aim of promoting a regional cooperation for helping security and development of Afghanistan.

The relations among Afghanistan, India and Pakistan are entering into a new phase with the start of construction of the Central-South Asia gas pipeline (TAPI) and the growing trade and economic cooperation between the three countries. The pipeline project is one of the biggest economic enterprises in the region, and has turned to a so-called diplomacy of pipeline promoting peace and cooperation in the region. The pipeline diplomacy has the potential to transform political relations between the three countries. The project is only a starting point for the three countries to focus more on improvement of economic relations and trade. There is much more for the three South Asian states in areas of trade and economic cooperation.