Afghanistan and India sign 'strategic partnership'

BBC ^ | October 4, 2011 | Unknown

[decimon]

The leaders of Afghanistan and India have signed a strategic partnership agreement during a visit by President Hamid Karzai to Delhi.

Mr Karzai met Indian PM Manmohan Singh, who said violence in Afghanistan was undermining security in South Asia.

He also said that India would "stand by Afghanistan" when foreign troops withdraw from the country in 2014.

Mr Karzai's visit follows a series of attacks which have damaged ties between Kabul and India's rival, Pakistan.

Correspondents say the increasingly close relationship between Kabul and Delhi will be viewed with some suspicion by Pakistan, which sees Afghanistan as its backyard.

[the invisib1e hand]

OK, the question of the moment for me is, what's the risk of India tilting left, or being effectively Islamicized, or otherwise turning on the US?

Maybe shipping all our jobs to Mumbai was a strategic move.

[federal__reserve]

This is a very shrewd move by Karzai, and will help boost survival of his regime for many years. India has surplus foreign reserves. They can afford to support Afghanistan militarily and in trade.

[Tench_Coxe]

This may be a good move for India, considering where Pakistan and China sit...

[LadyDoc]

India is Hindu and one of the victims of the terrorist types. Pakistan has sponsored terrorists into their north for years, and China is supplying arms to their “communist insurgents” in the east.

So unless Obama castrates the US militarily ,this is good news for us and bad news for the increasingly paranoid Pakistani army who are the ones behind the terrorists in Afghanistan and India.

[muleskinner]

This is a huge strategic shift. India is finally stepping up. Good for them.

If the Indians send in a division of Gurkha troops, they won't stand for any nonsense from the Pakis/Taliban.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

This is a very shrewd move by Karzai, and will help boost survival of his regime for many years.

This would be good if it happened but we're barely keeping the Karzai government in power, and that power doesn't extend very far beyond Kabul. The odds of India succeeding where we're getting ready to fail are exceedingly slim. When we go Karzai's government will likely fall to the Pakistan-backed Haqqanis and other Taliban forces within months.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks decimon.

• Netanyahu reaffirms Israel claim to parts of West Bank

[bigheadfred]

Yeah. Uh-humm. In Xanadu...