Afghanistan to acquire gunships from India

KABUL/ NEW DELHI: Afghanistan is poised to acquire four attack helicopters from India to help it fight the Taliban, a small but significant deal marking a shift in Kabul's search for allies that is likely to anger Pakistan.

Afghanistan’s National Security Adviser Mohammad Hanif Atmar is due in New Delhi this weekend to finalise the transfer of the Russian-made Mi-25 helicopters, said sources in New Delhi and Kabul who are involved in the plans.

Atmar will be discussing with his Indian hosts the fight against terrorism as well as air force equipment issues, the Afghan National Security Council said in a Twitter post.

"We are going to give them the helicopters, this is a one-off arrangement," said an Indian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

The supply of the assault helicopters will be the first offensive weapon to Afghanistan since India signed a strategic partnership agreement with Kabul in 2011. It has donated light helicopters, vehicles and provided military training in the past.

An Afghan source confirmed the plan to induct Mi-25s from India, saying Kabul was looking to regional players to help it fight the Taliban. "We are the ones who are fighting the Islamic State, al Qaeda and the Taliban, everyone else is only talking," the source said. "But terrorism is everyone's problem."

Atmar will also be discussing a proposal to train Afghan Special Forces in counter insurgency schools in India, the Afghan source said, in addition to about 1,000 Afghan army officers who visit India for training each year.

Pakistan's foreign ministry declined to comment on the Afghan plan to obtain attack helicopters from India, saying it is a matter between those two countries. The military did not respond to a request for comment.

"This kind of deal will definitely be watched very closely here and people will be concerned about this," said Lahore-based security analyst Ejaz Haider. "It will be seen as linking up with the steadily deteriorating relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan."


Published in The Express Tribune, November 7^th, 2015.