Afghanistan: Delhi can’t lower guard
Saturday’s failed terrorist attack on the Indian consulate in Jalalabad, eastern Afghanistan’s largest city not far from the Pakistan border, which tragically killed nine children studying at a nearby mosque, is another reminder that Pakistan’s real intention in Afghanistan after US forces leave soon is to keep it destabilised through the use of violence. It hopes an unsteady Afghanistan will permit Pakistan to order its politics and install a puppet regime in Kabul.
Over the years India has emerged as Kabul’s key non-Western provider of development assistance, and this has always irked Islamabad, whose stock in Afghanistan has been low for decades and today stands at rock bottom. Through repeated attacks on Indian facilities, Islamabad has sought to frighten India into packing its bags from Kabul.
Massive terrorist assaults, directed from Pakistan, were executed against the Indian embassy in Kabul in 2008 and 2009, and the following year Kabul guesthouses where many Indian civilians lived were attacked. For Pakistan, it must have been frustrating that these had little effect on Indian morale or on Afghanistan’s policy of continuing its deep friendship with this country. But there is no reason for New Delhi to lower its guard against hostile Pakistan-based elements.
The Jalalabad attack against the Indian diplomatic mission could be frustrated thanks to the extraordinary alertness, agility and efficiency of the local police. This is one more example of the willingness of Afghan security forces to confront hostile elements boldly. The assumption, often pushed in Western quarters, that Afghanistan will be a pushover for Pakistan when the international forces have finally left, appears misplaced. This assumption is one justification for American attempts to get the Hamid Karzai government to negotiate with the Pakistan-backed Taliban on terms that aren’t simply unequal but also humiliating, and have quite appropriately been rebuffed.
India’s official response after the Saturday attack notes, in effect, that irregulars with an extremist ideology continue to be harboured on the Pakistani side of the border, and that this is the crux of the matter in the AfPak context even if the Americans aren’t listening any longer. New Delhi’s response, regrettably, appears to be of a minimalist nature. While it reiterates its unflagging commitment to continue to provide development aid to Afghanistan, an indication of India’s resolve to stay the course — and play a constructive role — is likely to have been conveyed more effectively had New Delhi made a reference to its strategic partnership with Afghanistan. Such a signal may exactly be what others in the region are looking for.
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