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India’s most important road project is the Zaranz-Delaram highway from Iran, which when completed will bypass Pakistan, reducing Afghanistan’s near-total dependence on Pakistan. It’s replay of the Great Game on both sides of the Salang Pass.

Now a direct road from Iran to Afghanistan happy trails to all! (sarcasm)

http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-18/0607218601193245.htm

India News Online » News Analysis

Indians working in Afghanistan : New Delhi to review their security needs

May 08, 2006

Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said the body of kidnapped Indian telecom engineer K. Suryanarayana was found in southern Afghanistan on April 30 before the Taliban deadline was over. It indicated that they were not interested in negotiating for his release but had premeditated his killing. “The outrageous demand that all Indians should leave Afghanistan within 24 hours testifies to the real motivation behind this act of terror”, he said. The Minister of State for External Affairs, E. Ahamed, also said that the Indian Government was not given the chance to negotiate with the abductors because they murdered the engineer even before a team of the Ministry could reach Kabul. The Afghanistan President, Hamid Karzai, has condemned the killing and ordered the security forces to hunt down those responsible. “The enemies of Afghanistan want to stop the country from developing and standing on its own feet”, said Karzai while condemning the killing.

While Suryanarayana’s company gave a compensation of Rs. 20 lakhs, the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister announced a grant of another Rs. 5 lakhs. In Hyderabad, Suryanarayana’s wife, Manjula, had returned from meeting Chief Minister Rajesekhara Reddy, who reassured her of help.

Condemning the cowardly act, political observers say irrespective of the immediate circumstances surrounding the tragedy, the Taliban had really no intention of sticking to the deadline it set for the withdrawal of all Indians working in Afghanistan. The 24-hour deadline itself was unrealistic, a clear indicator that the plan behind the abduction was to shock and awe the people of India – not wrest any concessions. Ever since its ouster from power in Afghanistan, the Taliban seemed intent on forcing India to disengage itself from any form of cooperation with the changed order in Afghanistan.

By all accounts, the Taliban appear to present India’s growing involvement in the development of Afghanistan’s infrastructure, and its repeated endorsement of the leadership of President Hamid Karzai. Following the United States-led invasion in 2001, New Delhi ended its deep association with the Northern Alliance; since it was not involved in the military action, the Taliban did not identify it as an “enemy”. However, the situation has changed over the past two years on account of the personal rapport Karzai has built with the Indian leadership.

The Government of India has decided to review the security needs of Indians working in Afghanistan following the beheading of Suryanarayana. A team led by Joint Secretary, K.B.S Katoch visited Kabul on April 30 and on return is expected to submit a report after assessing the situation. An estimated 2000 Indians are in Afghanistan, of which a sizeable chunk works for foreign firms. Most of them are technicians, including engineers working in the fields of telecom, road building and other infrastructure related activities. Owing to poor security, they have often been the targets of Taliban. Suryanarayana’s murder was a repeat of the slaying of Border Roads Organization driver, R. Maniappan in November last year. Security for Indian workers in government establishments was strengthened after the incident but workers in private concerns, especially with foreign firms, remained vulnerable since it was not possible to deploy forces at all installations where they are employed. The Indo-Tibetan Border Police [TBP] has only 300 personnel to guard the Indian Embassy in Kabul, the consulates in Kandahar and Jalalabad and the projects undertaken by the Border Roads Organization. BRO engineers are constructing a 218-kilometres long road between Zaranj and Delaram in south-western Afghanistan which is also of immense strategic importance to India. With Pakistan continuing to deny transit facilities, India aims to gain better access to Afghanistan and energy-rich Central Asia by linking the Iranian Chahbahar port by road to Zaranj on the Afghanistan border and then onwards to Delaram. The project with 2l90 BRO personnel deployed to complete it by 2007, forms part of the overall $550 million Indian assistance to rebuild war-ravaged Afghanistan.

Afghanistan, owing to its strategic location and its history, is too important a country for India to leave, especially after New Delhi had regained its influence in the country post 9/11. India’s profile in Afghanistan is growing and its relations with Kabul straddle diverse sectors including economy, education and technology in sharp contrast to the situation over five years ago when it had no contact with the Taliban regime. India’s engagement with Afghanistan is vital for its ongoing battle against terrorism in the region that derives its moral and material support from the Taliban and powerful Afghan opium lords. India has pledged $650 million for Afghanistan’s reconstruction in a slew of projects ranging from roads and infrastructure to grassroots development.

For the Taliban, India is now a collaborator – and a soft target. From the Indian perspective, a close relationship with Afghanistan is desirable. Among other things, it helps to neutralize Islamabad’s clout in the region. Sections within the Pakistan establishment have used the Taliban as a weapon against India. A committed relationship with the Karzai Government has its strategic advantages. Political observers say, in developing a coherent response, New Delhi must unambiguously signal that there would be no downgrading of Indian presence in Afghanistan.

Taliban’s rise, India’s stakes

India has a major stake in a new Afghanistan. If the country had been a breeding ground as well as training centre for terrorists, its geographical proximity to India posed a major security threat to the latter. The fact that many of the Afghan mujahideen groups had been trained, financed and armed by Pakistan, added to India’s security concerns over Afghanistan.

Four years after being ousted from power by the US-led coalition, the hardline Taliban militia is regrouping in eastern and southern Afghanistan and even finding support among locals. The Taliban has claimed to have established its administrative and operational control over certain areas in southern and eastern Afghanistan. There are reports of the Taliban finding new supporters among locals who see them providing better security to people than the Government does. Even the voting for Parliament from these areas last year could not be conducted as the election material and the polling parties could not reach their respective places due to the militants control over the routes. Dai Chopan is one of the worst districts as far as insurgency is concerned. The insurgency is headed by Mullah Dadullah, who has about 400 fighters. Abount 40 Taliban fighters are working in small groups in Nawbahar district. In Khake Afghan district, foreign fighters, mostly Arabs and Chechens, have their base. It is being headed by a Taliban commander, Mullah Qahar, who was the commander for a Taliban frontline during the fight against the Northern Alliance. Qalat, the provincial capital of Zabul province, is headed by Taliban commander Mullah Assadullah who has around 300 fighters. Five months ago, Assadullah masterminded the killing of a Turkish engineer and kidnapped Indian driver Raman Kutty in the Tarnak area. Recently, Afghan President Hamid Karzai confronted Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf with evidence of Islamabad’s continued patronage of the Taliban. However, Musharraf denied the charge and said that Islamabad was as much a victim of terrorism as New Delhi and Kabul.

The resurgence of the Taliban has a lot to do with Pakistan rediscovering its “strategic depth” policy in Afghanistan, despite the challenges of having to deal with the Al-Qaeda in Waziristan and NWFP and the Balochistan insurgency. Security analysts have noted that while Pervez Musharraf has been demonstrably hard on Al-Qaeda, he has kept the Taliban under the radar screen. Consequently, they are now better organized, better equipped and receiving ample support from Pakistan to resume their forays into Afghanistan – a return to their old role as the Pakistan proxy.

India realizes the difficulties of the Hamid Karzai regime, fighting to eliminate the Taliban with all its means. Despite the humiliating defeat of the hated Taliban regime at the hands of the US-led coalition, these terrorists continue to remain active in certain inaccessible regions and the areas bordering Pakistan. It is known that Islamabad has not given up the idea of using Afghanistan for “strategic depth” against India, and that General Musharraf has cracked down selectively on Al-Qaeda militants while leaving Taliban operatives free to operate on Pakistani territory. The “strategic depth” theory is that Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the ISI, has continued to perpetrate even after the Taliban was ousted from Kabul in November 2001. And despite Pervez Musharraf’s turnaround after 9/11 in favour of the Americans and against the Taliban (Pakistan, besides the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, was the only country to publicly support the Taliban in power before 9/11), a section of the Pakistani establishment has not been able to swallow the fact that it no longer controls Kabul. It is this section that has played a major role in the rise of the neo-Taliban. Local Pashtun Afghans, spurred on by their Al-Qaeda mentors and aided by this renegade section of the Pakistani establishment, commonly walk back and forth across the Durand Line. Meanwhile, Musharraf, under constant US pressure to prove his fidelity, sends troops into areas like Waziristan, but to no avail. The Taliban has asserted itself too completely as to make life difficult for Hamid Karzai. This, then, is the source of Karzai’s anger against Islamabad. In recent weeks, Karzai and Musharraf have exchanged angry accusations – and denials – about the fact that Pakistan is “supporting” the Taliban. Since Karzai has been unable to extend his influence beyond Kabul, he remains naturally concerned that the Taliban in southern Afghanistan derives its influence and power from a section of the Pakistani establishment.

A common eyesore for both Pakistan and Taliban is India’s presence in Afghanistan. Conversely, India is determined not to cede influence and turf to Pakistan ever again, with its deepening involvement in Afghanistan. Pakistan had protested against India opening consulates in Kandahar. Jalalabad and Herat , and its latest bugbear is the deployment of Indian paramilitary personnel as its facilities in Afghanistan. India’s most important road project is the Zaranz-Delaram highway from Iran, which when completed will bypass Pakistan, reducing Afghanistan’s near-total dependence on Pakistan. It’s replay of the Great Game on both sides of the Salang Pass.