Aug. 20 – Afghanistan is now the second biggest recipient of Indian aid after Bhutan to the consternation of Pakistan, which maintains a tense relationship with India and is located between the two countries.
New Delhi is re-establishing its ties with a post-Taliban Afghanistan by pledging US$1.2 billion in aid making it the fifth largest donor to the country. The money will include funding a road connecting to Iran’s border, and building a new parliament building in Kabul.
New Delhi has also committed to training Afghan bureaucrats, economists and accountants in India. From wells and toilets to power plants and satellite transmitters, India is seeding Afghanistan with a vast array of projects, reports The Wall Street Journal. Influence over Afghanistan has always been a point of contention for arch rivals India and Pakistan that consider the country a vital strategic pawn.
For six years, Pakistan refused entry of Indian donations of fortified wheat biscuits to feed two million Afghan schoolchildren and only granted access in 2008.
“We recognize that Afghanistan needs development assistance from every possible source to address the daunting challenges it is facing. We have no issue with that,” Pakistani foreign-ministry spokesman Abdul Basit told The Wall Street Journal. “What Pakistan is looking for is strict adherence to the principle of noninterference.”
Afghanistan and India have a long history of friendly relations. Afghanistan used to share a border with the North-West Frontier Province which was then part of British India prior to the partition of 1947 when the area became Pakistan.
>Pakistani foreign-ministry spokesman Abdul Basit told The Wall Street >Journal. “What Pakistan is looking for is strict adherence to the principle >of noninterference.”
This would be funny if it wasn’t plain stupid. If Pakistan’s politicians and diplomats have lost credibility in the international community it is because of statements like this. Even Sherry Rehman wouldn’t have been able to say this with a straight face.
Again, the problem with Pakistan and the border with Afghanistan is that the British just drew a line. Some of it dissected villages. This is why there are issues, part of what is now Pakistan and part of what is now Afghanistan used to be the same tribal areas, and loyalties go back far longer than an artificial line of control some British army officer drew up 100 years ago. “Simple” is not a word in the lexicon of solving the Pakistan/Afghanistan question.