Karzai Sets Closer Ties With India on Visit
Mr. Karzai told reporters that regional powers, and India in particular, are key to helping his country pursue peace. He praised India as a "steadfast friend and supporter" of his country.
Mr. Singh said India would "stand by the people of Afghanistan as they prepare to assume the responsibility for their governance and security after the withdrawal of international forces."
India has pledged to train and equip Afghan's army and police force, according to a copy of the partnership agreement, expanding on limited training it conducted for the army in India four years ago.
Mr. Singh also urged neighboring countries to do more to help Afghanistan reach its goals of greater peace and stability. "All countries of the region must work to facilitate this outcome," he said.
The U.S. is eager to see India and other countries help train Afghan's security forces to beef up their capacity to fight Taliban insurgents ahead of the withdrawal of U.S. forces, scheduled for completion in 2014. But the greater involvement of India in this training role is likely to anger Pakistan, which sees Afghanistan as within its sphere of influence.
Afghanistan's relationship with Pakistan has deteriorated after Mr. Karzai said last week he was calling off nascent peace talks with Taliban militants and would focus instead on reaching out to Pakistan, which Afghan officials say support the Taliban. U.S. officials also have blamed Pakistan's military for supporting Taliban attacks against U.S. and Afghan government targets inside Afghanistan, a charge Pakistani officials say is untrue.
The policy shift follows last month's assassination of Burhanuddin Rabbani, a former Afghan president and lead negotiator with the Taliban. Mr. Rabbani was killed outside his house by a purported Taliban peace envoy who Afghan government officials allege was a Pakistani citizen supported by the country's spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate. On Tuesday, Mr. Singh expressed his condolences for the death of Mr. Rabbani.
An official with the ISI denied the charges made against it by U.S. and Afghan officials and said both countries are unfairly blaming Pakistan for their failure to make progress in peace talks, from which Pakistan has so far been excluded.
India has poured more than $1 billion in aid money into Afghanistan in the past decade, mainly for infrastructure projects. Those projects have caused anger in Pakistan, especially when Indian paramilitary forces were deployed to guard Indian road-construction workers in Afghanistan. Islamabad also has complained about the opening of Indian consulates in Afghanistan.
India trained Afghanistan's army in 2007, when two platoon-sized infantry units took sessions in India, said Ashok Mehta, a retired Indian general and defense analyst. India has been careful never to send army units to Afghanistan, because it realizes that it also needs to avoid antagonizing Pakistan to the point of conflict, instead only conducting these limited training sessions at home on Afghan request, he added.
"India realizes it would unnecessarily aggravate the situation in Afghanistan if it made an open-ended declaration about security assistance," Mr. Mehta said.
Mr. Mehta said Afghanistan had requested for 150 army officers to receive training at Indian defense and military academies and that appears likely to happen soon. India also is expected to soon begin hosting training sessions for Afghan police officers.
India and Afghanistan on Tuesday also agreed to strengthen trade and economic ties, announcing two agreements to cooperate in mining and hydrocarbons. The state-run Steel Authority of India is among bidders for the right to mine iron ore at the Hajigak mine in Afghanistan's central Bamiyan province. If the Indian bid is successful, the company plans to build steel plants in Afghanistan and possibly even rail lines to improve access to the mines.
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Afghan Army to train in India
Afghan Army to train in India | StratPost
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
By Saurabh Joshi
The Indian Army is to provide basic training to officers and men of the Afghan National Army (ANA) in India. This training is expected to begin by August and will be conducted at various regimental training centers of the Indian Army, according to sources in the Indian Ministry of Defense.
The first batch of ANA personnel will consist of 25 officers and 30 Personnel Below Officer Rank (PBOR). Their training will also include certain specialized modules, especially in Counter Insurgency (COIN) warfare.
While ANA personnel have attended courses at Indian military training establishments before, this is the first time basic training is being provided to them. And while the first batch consists of 55 ANA personnel, it is unclear whether this number is likely to go up later and would depend on requests from the ANA, available vacancies in regimental training centers and Indian government policy.
