In his recent book Descent into Chaos Pakistan's most eminent scholaron developments in Afghanistan, Ahmed Rashid has revealed how the Pakistanmilitary and ISI have attempted for the past two decades to establish andsustain a regime in Kabul, which would be internationally isolated and totallydependent on Pakistan. Such a regime would serve Pakistan's large strategicpurpose of using Afghan territory as a base for waging Jihad against India inJammu and Kashmir and elsewhere.
As long as the Taliban ruled Afghanistan, Jihadis from groups like the Harkatul Mujahideen were trained in Afghanistan and the Taliban assisted Pakistan bycolluding with the hijackers of IC 814 in Kandahar. This situation changed whenthe Americans overthrew the Taliban government and installed a governmentenjoying public support under President Hamid Karzai.
Despite pretending to support the American offensive against the Taliban,Pakistan has continued to allow Taliban leaders to seek shelter in Baluchistan'scapital Quetta, while Taliban cadres have joined their Pakistani Pashtunbrethren to wage war against American and NATO forces, from secure bases withinPakistan.
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The ouster of the Taliban also saw the return of an Indian presence inAfghanistan. New Delhi set up diplomatic missions in Kabul, Herat, Kandahar,Jalalabad and Mazar e Sharif. India joined other countries in providing massiveeconomic assistance to Afghanistan-assistance that has won India many friendsand admirers in the war torn country as Indian assistance has really benefitedpeople at large. Ordinary people in Afghanistan now appreciate the assistancethat India has provided to better their day to day lives.
Deeply concerned by India's growing influence and popularity in Afghanistan,Pakistan mounted a propaganda barrage against India, claiming that India isusing its diplomatic missions in Afghanistan to support terrorist elements inBaluchistan. When this propaganda failed, the ISI got the Taliban to attackIndian engineers and workers involved in road construction and developmentprojects, particularly in Southern Afghanistan.
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Indian engineers and workers were targeted, kidnapped and even beheaded. TheIndian Consulate in Kandahar was bombed. In order to protect its workers, Indiasent in around five hundred paramilitary personnel from the Indo-Tibetan BorderPolice (ITBP) to protect Indian missions and personnel. The attack on the IndianEmbassy in Kabul on July 7, in which the Military Attaché Brigadier R.D. Mehta,the Political Counselor Venkateswara Rao and two Jawans of the ITBP were killed,was a part of this large Pakistani strategy to instill fear in and force outIndian personnel working in Pakistan, thereby ending India's ability toinfluence developments in that country.
The challenge that India faces today is that its workers, doctors, engineers anddiplomats are spread all over Afghanistan. In the power sector Indian teams areinvolved in construction of transmission lines, power stations andhydro-electric projects. India is helping reestablish the telecommunicationnetworks in a dozen cities and Indian medical teams are working across thecountry in centres like the Indira Gandhi Hospital in Kabul. Afghanistan's newParliament in Kabul is being built with Indian assistance. India is alsoproviding high protein biscuits for one million school children acrossAfghanistan.
Most importantly, India is building the Zaranj-Delaram Highway which will linkAfghanistan with the Iranian port of Chahbahar. Once this Highway is built,Pakistan will no longer be in a position to blackmail Afghanistan by blockingtransit of goods from Karachi to Kabul, as it will no longer remain the soleoutlet to the sea for Afghanistan. Pakistan's most important strategic objectiveis to prevent Indian from completing this road project. Once the highway isconstructed completed, Pakistan can no longer prevent India's trade withAfghanistan. Indian engineers and workers in this project face the greatestthreat to their lives.
India thus faces a Herculean task to provide protection for over 2000 of itscitizens now living and working even in remote areas of Afghanistan. While theKarzai government has done its best to protect Indian citizens, its resourcesare limited. India will have to seek greater assistance for the protection forits nationals from American and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
More importantly, a firm and clear message has to be sent to Pakistan that itwill face retribution if it proceeds with targeting Indian citizens inAfghanistan. Sadly, the Manmohan Singh government has not shown the will,determination, or inclination, to take hard measures to retaliate appropriately,when its citizens are killed abroad in the line of duty.
G. Parthasarathy is former Indian High Commissioner/Ambassador to Pakistan,Myanmar and Australia. This article was written for and appears in OutlookSaptahik
