At a time when
India
’s relations with
Pakistan
have touched rock bottom and combat formations deployed on the borders have raised tensions between the two neighbours to dangerous heights, the installation of a friendly regime led by Mr Hamid Karzai in post Taliban
Afghanistan
is an encouraging development. Mr Karzai had paid an official visit to
New Delhi
in the last week of February. Earlier, well before the new interim government was sworn in on December 22, two important ministers in Mr Karzai’s cabinet, Home Minister Younous Qanooni, and Foreign Minister Dr Abdulla Abdulla, were in the Indian capital in quick succession. Other ministers who came unpublicized were Air Transport and Tourism Minister, Abdul Rahman, who was subsequently lynched at
Kabul
airport by angry Haj pilgrims, and Higher Education Minister, Sharif Faez.
After President Musharraf’s ‘hands-off Afghanistan’ warning to India, following the September 11 terrorist attack in the US, the swearing in of an India friendly government in Afghanistan was welcomed by the architects of New Delhi’s Afghan policy. They have achieved their objective to ensure that
Afghanistan
is no longer an exporter of terrorism. Secondly, the perception that
Pakistan
would gain strategic depth in Taliban controlled Afghan territory has also vanished.
New Delhi
would like to see the post Taliban
Afghanistan
as a forward looking democracy, which is able to rebuild its battered economy and institutions, where the rights of minorities and women are protected.
On the other hand,
Pakistan
, since the fall of its protégé Taliban government, has desperately tried to gain a foothold in
Kabul
. But the Afghans, who were pawns in
Islamabad
’s game plan, are not in a mood to oblige, at least for the present. They know that the Pakistanis were part of the Taliban administration, and one of them was even a Minister. The Taliban militia also had a number of officers and soldiers seconded to it from the Pakistani regular army.
Hence, the Afghan Trade Minister Mustafa Kazimi was right when he said that the biggest threat to
Afghanistan
was its neighbour
Pakistan
. The warmth towards
India
was evident when Foreign Minister Abdulla promptly denounced the terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament on December 13. He was quoted as saying, "People of
Afghanistan
, having themselves experienced the ravages of terrorism, fully understand the significance of this attack."
The new leadership in
Kabul
has requested
Delhi
to assist the war torn country by rebuilding its social and economic infrastructure, agriculture, health and education. It wants
India
to assist in setting up a police training academy and also to help in framing a stringent anti terrorist law.
New Delhi
is keen to help in the reconstruction programme to shore up Hamid Karzai’s interim government. It feels that Indian companies, with their experience in the
Middle East
and elsewhere in
Asia
, would be able to execute development projects effectively.
India
has already earmarked a Rs. 500 crore (US $109 million) aid package for this purpose. The reconstruction of
Afghanistan
may also prove beneficial to Indian companies at a time when the economy is in a recessionary mode. Trade and economic relations will start picking up when the Indian embassy resumes its normal functions.
India
has age-old cultural relations with
Afghanistan
, which has a small but prosperous Hindu and Sikh minority engaged in business and other professions. In pre-Taliban
Afghanistan
, the minority communities were part and parcel of the larger Afghan mosaic. But the Taliban rulers’ satanic actions like blasting the Bamiyan Buddha statues and persecution of non-Muslims forced them to flee the country. Hopefully, they will return and contribute to its economic progress.
The dismantling of the Pan-Islamic terror machine in
Afghanistan
is a distinctive strategic gain for
India
. It should ensure peace and security in the country, which had suffered greatly due to terrorism. The multitude of terrorist training camps destroyed by US bombing should benefit
New Delhi
as it prepares to reopen its embassy in
Kabul
. The latest allied air and ground operations against the regrouped Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters in Eastern Afghanistan, bordering Pakistani territory, has further crippled the Jehadi groups. This setback to the ISI’s fundamentalist partners engenders hope that the state sponsored terror in
Kashmir
and other parts of
India
may be considerably reduced…brightening the prospects for peace.
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