Context:
- India’s decision to expand security assistance to Kabul has a nuanced geopolitical message.
Key Points:
- India’s plans to expand its security assistance to Afghanistan by training police officers in India as part of a UNDP project.
- By training police officers and hundreds of army cadets and officers, India is taking an important role in capacity building for Afghan security.
- The second message, to Pakistan and other countries in the region that deal with the Taliban, is that India will not be deterred from assisting Afghanistan for its security. This is a clear counter to Pakistan Prime Minister S.K. Abbasi’s recent statement that India has “zero political and military role” in Afghanistan.
- New Delhi’s decision to send Indian engineers to refurbish several non-functional Soviet-era planes and to repair the helicopters India donated to Afghanistan last year also comes in the wake of this commitment.
- Third, there is a message to the U.S. and NATO forces, India will play a part in putting Afghanistan back on its feet in India’s own way and not necessarily, as the U.S. may prefer, with ‘boots on the ground’ or by sending large numbers of trainers into Afghanistan, where they would become marked targets.