India-Afghanistan Relations

Despite the talk about India having key strategic interests in Afghanistan, it neither has the necessary resources nor the clout to influence developments in Afghanistan.

• Arvind Gupta , Vishal Chandra
• April 28, 2011
• IDSA Comments

India should seek a regional solution to the Afghan conflict, involving a regional force under a UN flag to provide a stable environment for governance and development till the Afghan National Army can take over.

• Gurmeet Kanwal
• February 21, 2011
• IDSA Comments

India needs to engage countries in the region to ensure that the transition process in Afghanistan does not threaten regional stability.

• Smruti S. Pattanaik
• January 28, 2011
• IDSA Comments

The Afghan war has a long way to go. The situation has come to a point where with every passing month one wonders where the war is headed. There can be no doubt that it will be long before Afghanistan will be at peace with itself. At this moment, there does not seem to be any solution to the Afghan crisis. The Taliban and their allies, both Afghan and foreign, have notably succeeded in transforming the war to their advantage.

• Vishal Chandra
• January 2011
• Strategic Analysis

Although General David Petraeus emphatically stated that the United States of America is not in Afghanistan to lose the war, the fact remains that the decade-long war on terror against the Taliban and shadow boxing the al Qaida has lost its aim and purpose, reaching levels of absurdity at a cost of over a trillion dollars and yet the US will not win the war! Every effort of General Petraeus to win will only escalate the conflict and that is not in the best interests of Afghanistan and the US.

• B. R. Muthu Kumar
• January 2011
• Strategic Analysis

The prognoses that it will be long before Afghanistan will be at peace with itself; that the Taliban have raised the cost of the Afghan war for the West; that the growing differences between the West and Kabul have aggravated the prevailing uncertainty over the future of the war; and that the US-led Afghan mission appears unwinnable are all unexceptionable.

• Satish Chandra
• January 2011
• Strategic Analysis

India must stay engaged, keep a low profile, earn the goodwill of the Afghan people through its multifaceted assistance programme, and stay away from any costly misadventure in the security sector.

• Arvind Gupta
• October 18, 2010
• IDSA Comments

By offering to augment its $1.3 billion assistance to Afghanistan, India has sent out a clear signal that it remains a player in the beleaguered nation's reconstruction process. India will not be deterred by the efforts of Pakistan and a section of the world community to isolate it. The offer was made during President Hamid Karzai's brief visit to New Delhi, on April 26–27, 2010. The timing was significant. Karzai was flying further east to Thimphu, Bhutan, to attend the 16th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). The Indian prime minister, Dr.

• Mahendra Ved
• September 2010
• Strategic Analysis

This is a good time for India to review its Afghan strategy taking into account increasing war weariness of the Western forces and President Karzai’s policy of reintegrating the ‘good Taliban’.

• Arvind Gupta
• February 01, 2010
• IDSA Comments

Stability in Afghanistan is vital and the stakes for India are high, but the time is over for sitting on the fence. India requires a larger strategic vision, not a blueprint for town and country planning.

• P. Stobdan
• October 19, 2009
• IDSA Comments