India Should Resume Infra Projects In Afghanistan Before Pakistan And China Take The Cake Away
New Delhi should immediately resume its infrastructure projects in Afghanistan that were going on in full swing before the Taliban’s comeback, in order to not only increase its strategic heft but to also gain the goodwill of Afghan people
Last week’s decision to include Afghanistan under China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) should serve as a wake-up call for India that is still pondering over the question on whether or not to resume its pending large-scale infrastructure projects in the war-torn country that came under the Taliban rule in August 2021.
The decision to embrace Kabul with the BRI by extending the controversial China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) till Afghanistan was taken following a trilateral meeting held between Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang of China, and Afghanistan’s Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Islamabad last week.
The Pakistan foreign minister has said the extension of CPEC till Afghanistan will prove to be a “win-win economic initiative” while he invited “all investors around the world” to pour money in the project that is expected to make the Taliban-ruled country “peaceful, stable, prosperous and united”.
This came within days after India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar warned both China and Pakistan to respect “sovereignty and territorial integrity” when it comes to connectivity. India is against CPEC as it passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
"On the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the so-called corridor, I think it was made very clear, not once but twice in the SCO meeting, that connectivity is good for progress, but connectivity cannot violate the territorial integrity and sovereignty of states,” Jaishankar told the media after the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers meeting.
He added: “This has been our longstanding position. Nobody should have any doubt about it, and I assure you, those who were in the room today had no doubt about it, I made sure of that.”
Before the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, as NATO withdrew its troops from there after ending a 20-year war, India had been deeply engaged in the infrastructure development of that country by working closely first with former Afghan president Hamid Karzai's government and thereafter with ex-president Ashraf Ghani, who fled the country following Taliban’s entry.
After the Taliban were ousted by the US in 2001, and until they came back to power in 2021, India was the largest donor to Afghanistan in South Asia during the period, with financial assistance clocking upwards of $3 billion.
Some of the projects India was engaged in were the construction of a 218-km road from Zaranj to Delaram for facilitating movement of goods and services to the Iranian border, the construction of 220kV DC transmission line from Pul-e-Khumri to Kabul, and a 220/110/20 kV sub-station at Chimtala, upgrading of telephone exchanges in 11 provinces, expansion of national TV network by providing an uplink from Kabul and downlinks in all 34 provincial capitals for greater integration of the country.
In December 2015, India handed over a new Afghan Parliament to Ghani. By then, India had also completed some key infrastructure projects that continue to represent India’s goodwill there, such as the Afghan-India Friendship Dam (Salma Dam), Doshi and Charikar substations, restoration of Stor Palace, establishment of new diagnostic centre and construction of decentralised waste water treatment system at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health (IGICH) and establishment of Afghan National Agriculture Science and Technology University in Kandahar.
India Has No Plans To Resume Projects
Following the rapid takeover of the country by the Taliban even as the security situation deteriorated, India had shut down four of its consulates there before August 2021. India had its consulates in some of the key strategic locations of Mazar-e-Sharif, Kandahar, Herat and Jalalabad.
Such a move not only led to a strategic loss for India in terms of intelligence gathering as Pakistan continues to hold its influence there along with the Taliban and other terrorist outfits.
While India reopened its embassy in Kabul in June 2022, the consulates continue to remain closed. Such a move might appear prudent from the point of view of the security situation there but the common Afghans saw India’s presence in these locations as the “presence of a friend who can be called in need”, as a former Afghan diplomat once told me.
An Indian delegation led by J.P. Singh, joint secretary (Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran Division) at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), has also held several meetings there with the Taliban leaders, including an in-person meeting with Muttaqi last June.
A senior Indian official told this reporter that even though New Delhi has reopened its embassy there it is in "no rush" and has no “immediate plans” to resume the stalled projects there. This, despite the fact that the Taliban government has assured several times to the Indian government that it will not only protect all the projects completed by India but will also provide security to the Indian companies as and when they resume the pending ones.
Last November, following a meeting between Taliban Minister of Urban Development and Housing (MUDH) Hamdullah Nomani and Bharat Kumar, who is heading the Indian Embassy in Kabul currently, it was announced by Kabul that New Delhi intends to restart 20 pending projects there. But that was quickly rejected by the Ministry of External Affairs later on.
While India has been dealing with the Taliban leaders who are in Doha as well as Kabul, the focus has been mostly on providing humanitarian aid and assistance to the impoverished Afghan government and people there.
Since August 2021, India has stopped granting visas to the Afghans, including students, who used to travel to this country in large numbers for higher studies. After the Taliban takeover, India introduced an e-visa system under which most requests are facing rejections.
China Picks Up Mantle From India
Taking advantage of the situation, China has made a grand entry in the country and the cash-strapped Taliban interim government has opened all the doors to Beijing, which has now picked up the mantle of “reconstruction of Afghanistan” that was once proudly held by India.
Apart from promising to bring the BRI to Afghanistan’s doorsteps, China is reportedly planning to invest heavily in that country’s mineral reserves.
According to local media reports of Afghanistan, Beijing has expressed interest to invest $10 billion in lithium deposits there eyeing the country’s $1 trillion mineral deposits. This came after Afghanistan’s acting Minister for Mine and Petroleum, Shahabuddin Delawar, met with a Chinese company – Gochin – in Kabul last month.
Beijing also plans to build a hydroelectric dam there even as state-run China Petroleum Economics and Information Research Center (CPEIC) has signed a contract with the Taliban in January this year to extract oil from the Amu Darya Basin, considered to be the largest gas-bearing basin in Central Asia.
According to a US Congressional Research Service report, “Afghanistan has not been a significant part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative or the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, in part because of tensions between Pakistan and the former Afghan government. Nevertheless, Afghanistan’s potential mineral wealth, combined with the Taliban’s takeover, could lead to greater Chinese involvement in Afghanistan.”
Iran Also Taking Baby Steps
Iran has also started resuming its projects and connectivity links with Afghanistan. Earlier this week, Tehran and Kabul jointly began a cross-border rail link even as the first cargo train arrived in Herat Province of Afghanistan from Khaf in Iran.
India and Iran along with Afghanistan had signed a tripartite agreement in May 2016 under which it was decided that these three countries will create a “reliable” transport corridor through the Chabahar Port project, signalling a major geopolitical power-play by New Delhi.
But owing to the American sanctions on Iran, India has shied away from investing in the project wholeheartedly. India has vowed to invest $200 million for completion of two terminals and five berths at Chabahar Port. However, the project is facing massive delays now with the coming in of Taliban in Afghanistan.
India is now batting for including the Chabahar Port as part of the International North-South Transport Corridor.
[Disclaimer: The opinions, beliefs, and views expressed by the various authors and forum participants on this website are personal and do not reflect the opinions, beliefs, and views of ABP News Network Pvt Ltd.]
“ It’s High Time Delhi And Moscow Set Realistic Goals For Decades-Old Friendship As The World Churns
Trending News
