Foreign secretary Nirupama Rao has said that the issue of peace and stability in Afghanistan needs to be addressed separately and comprehensively and not within the matrix of India-Pakistan relations, a view which was concurred by the delegates from Kabul who participated in a conference here on Sunday.
Her remarks at the Afghanistan-India-Pakistan trialogue organised by Delhi Policy Group here should be seen in the context of the refrain in certain capitals of the world that India-Pakistan rivalry has impeded regional peace and that India and Pakistan should resolve their differences for peace and stability in Afghanistan.
Matt Waldman, a Harvard fellow, has argued in his report released on Sunday that the fundamental causes of Pakistan’s insecurity, in particular its conflict with India, must be addressed on priority if the situation in Afghanistan is to improve. Similarly, Stanley McChrystal, the top US military commander in Afghanistan, had said in 2009 that the increasing Indian influence in Afghanistan is likely to exacerbate regional tensions.
Ms Rao dismissed the sceptics by iterating that India’s developmental efforts in Afghanistan are by no definition activities that are inimical to the interest of the people of Afghanistan or its neighbours. “India neither sees Afghanistan as a battleground for competing national interests nor assistance to Afghan reconstruction and development as a zero sum game,” she noted.
The foreign secretary had a word of advice for Pakistan, too: Asymmetries in size and development should not prevent it from working together with India in realising a vision of friendly, bilateral relations.
“Pakistan should shed its insecurity on these counts,” Ms Rao said, observing that India’s defence posture and capabilities are not of an offensive nature, and not targeted against any country, including Pakistan.
Ms Rao, who is likely to visit Islamabad to prepare the ground for external affairs minister S.M. Krishna’s talks with his Pakistan counterpart in July, reinforced India’s desire to pick up the threads of the peace process from where it was left off.