Indo-Pak. rivalry in Afghanistan

Indo-Pak. rivalry in Afghanistan
September 2003

The Hindu

Without the problems of a contiguous border, India has been able to reap the rewards of being a neighbourhood friend.
SEVERAL HUNDRED miles from New Delhi and Islamabad, India-Pakistan hostility is spilling over into another country — Afghanistan. Here the two countries are engaged in an unacknowledged bid for primacy in their bilateral relationship with Afghanistan. For the moment, India seems to be winning this new version of the great game effortlessly. The warmth for India is visible and palpable, both among the people and the Government, leaving Pakistan to cope with the bitter legacy of its long and tortuous involvement in Afghanistan.
India has had a long history of backing, both militarily and politically, the Northern Alliance, whose key members are now in positions of power in the Hamid Karzai Government. Without the problems of a contiguous border, India has been able to reap the rewards of being a neighbourhood friend. The goodwill that has seeped into public consciousness over the past several decades has been cemented with India’s no-strings-attached aid package to Afghanistan after the Karzai Government took over. Pakistan suffers from the constant comparison.
Though the contribution of India and Pakistan to the process of reconstruction in Afghanistan is only a fraction of the international aid being poured into the country, their presence and role is certainly attracting international attention. Central to it is the proximity of both countries to Afghanistan. The relationship between India and Pakistan and their ties with Kabul are an important component in the issues relating to Afghanistan’s security and stability.
The Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan, Vivek Katju, says Pakistan is “no factor” and that “we don’t view Afghanistan through the prism of any third country.” While Mr. Katju may be right in that India has never publicly raised any issue vis-à-vis Pakistan in Afghanistan, Islamabad’s sharp focus on New Delhi’s role has made it a factor nonetheless. The public interface during the Kabul visit of the Pakistan Foreign Minister, Khurshid Kasuri, last month was dominated by his comment on India’s role in Afghanistan. Mr. Kasuri claimed both were equal but added that “our [Pakistan’s] support is not as visible as buses going on the road nevertheless it has made a very basic and very immediate impact on the lives of the Afghans. Now the lesson therefore is that some things that you do should be visible.” Pakistan, Mr. Kasuri said, did not feel it needed to score a point. May be wheat from Pakistan, he suggested facetiously, could be put in “bags of a kilo with Pakistan stamped on it.”
India has opened consulates in Herat, Mazar-e-Sharif, Kandahar and Jalalabad, in addition to its embassy in Kabul — the cause of consternation to Pakistan. Islamabad’s earlier private protests to the Americans over this gave way recently to public charges against New Delhi on the grounds that its consulates were being used for anti-Pakistani activities. In private, Pakistani officials have even stated that India is using its consulates and officials based there to instigate local armed forces against the Pakistanis. The issue is more serious than that of pure political rhetoric. With an unstable and volatile border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, charges that India is instigating trouble against Pakistan have serious security implications with the potential of destabilising the ongoing operations against the remnants of the Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. It is a charge that has received short shrift from the Karzai Government.
”It is for India and Afghanistan, and not for any third country to decide the level and nature of Indian diplomatic presence,” says Mr. Katju. Describing the allegations in the Pakistan media as “utter rubbish,” he emphasises that Indian consulates are acting completely in accordance with international norms and will continue to do so.
The Afghanistan Foreign Minister, Abdullah Abdullah, echoes the sentiment, saying the activities of the Indian consulates “are in the limits of their duty as consulates in accordance with international norms and principles.” He adds that sometimes suspicions in relations between different countries are reflected on Afghanistan and it is something the country wishes to overcome.
Pakistan continues to block the transport of Indian goods through its territory even though it allows Afghanistan to send its goods to India. This has severely limited the trade opportunities between India and Afghanistan as all the goods have to be routed through Iran or airlifted by Ariana’s biweekly flights, an expensive proposition either way.
In fact, Pakistan’s unwillingness to allow Indian goods transit has also caused problems in the transit of material that India wishes to send as assistance to Afghanistan. Mr. Abdullah will not comment on this but says “it is in the interest of the region that relations between both countries grow in the line of cooperation.” It is Afghanistan’s wish, he says, that “grievances which exist between different countries will not be reflected towards us.” Right now however, the sentiment remains a fond hope.