Other than security, it also has agreements on boosting trade and cultural links between the two countries.
LAHORE: India and Afghanistan signed a strategic partnership pact last week even as the US administration and Afghan President Hamid Karzai were openly accusing the military establishment for supporting the Taliban. This is the first such pact between Afghanistan and another country and will deepen the existing relationship between Kabul and New Delhi. Other than security, it also has agreements on boosting trade and cultural links between the two countries.
The Indian prime minister’s statement at the signing of the accord, that the people of Afghanistan deserve to live in peace and to be able to decide their future themselves without outside interference and intimidation, is an indirect message to Pakistan that it should not interfere in Afghanistan and should abandon its policy of ‘strategic depth’. The pact will obviously be worrying for Pakistan because it envisages India training, equipping and building the capacity of the Afghan National Security Forces.
India has already provided two billion dollars in aid to Afghanistan to help build its infrastructure. Although President Karzai has said that the agreement with India will not affect its relationship with Pakistan, but the question to ask is why has Kabul not signed a similar pact with Islamabad.
The prevailing trust deficit between Pakistan and Afghanistan is likely to increase further, following this pact with India and will probably reinforce the policy of ‘strategic depth’. Pakistan shares a long border with Afghanistan and has a legitimate interest in a stable Afghanistan.
ST Hussain
Published in The Express Tribune, October 9th, 2011.
