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Committing to more development projects in Afghanistan, India announced it would extend one billion dollars of development assistance, with a focus on both capacity building in the social sector as well as clean energy projects of hydel-power and solar energy even as PM Narendra Modi and President Ashraf Ghani said they would step up bilateral security cooperation. President Ghani also accepted PM Modi’s invitation to revisit India for the Heart of Asia summit to be held on December 4th in Amritsar.
The one billion dollars in assistance which will add to roughly two billion dollars India has already committed to Afghanistan in the past decade, will be used for “capacity and capability building” in education, health, agriculture, skill development, empowerment of women, energy, infrastructure and strengthening of democratic institutions, a joint statement issued during the working visit of President Ghani after he met PM Modi in Delhi. The supply of medicines and increasing airflights between India and Afghanistan were also discussed as areas of importance.
In a veiled reference to Pakistan on the subject of regional terrorism, both leaders called upon “the concerned” countries to “put an end to all sponsorship, support, safe havens and sanctuaries to terrorists including for those who target Afghanistan and India”.
“Both leaders reaffirmed their resolve to counter terrorism and strengthen security and defence cooperation as envisaged in the India-Afghanistan Strategic Partnership Agreement,” the statement added.
However, the two countries did not make any specific reference to military assistance that Afghanistan has requested from India. During a visit to Delhi a few weeks ago, Afghan Army chief General Qadam Shah Shahim had put in requests for more helicopters, tanks, artillery and ammunition, as well as training for more Afghan forces. Despite being asked repeatedly on the specifics of what India, who has traditionally been wary of supplying Afghanistan lethal military hardware, would provide Afghanistan, Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar said he had nothing to add beyond the joint statement.
Raising concerns over Pakistan’s continued blockage of transit rights for goods to travel between India and Afghanistan, however, Mr. Jaishankar said that the two leaders had expressed their disappointment over the fact that 1.7 lakh tonnes of wheat that India had offered Afghanistan in December 2015 remain undelivered. “The method of supply and the obstructions to it are blocking our supply, despite food shortages in Afghanistan,” Mr. Jaishankar said.
A senior Pakistani official accepted that the request had been received from India “sometime this year”, but told The Hindu that it was still “under consideration” and had not been rejected. Under the Afghanistan Pakistan Transit trade Agreement, trade and goods are only allowed from Afghanistan upto the Wagah border with India, but not from India to Afghanistan.
India and Afghanistan also signed an Extradition Treaty to facilitate exchange of wanted terrorists and criminals as well an agreement on mutual legal assistance, which had been delayed since April 2015, when President Ghani had last visited.
Apart from the landmark treaty on extradition, the two sides also sealed agreements on peaceful uses of outer space and on cooperation on civil and commercial matters. The meeting between the two heads also sought faster implementation of the trilateral agreement among Afghanistan, Iran and India sealed in May 2016 which is aimed at creating a network of regional connectivity around Iran’s Chahbahar port.
It is one of the many pacts
The extradition treaty is one of the several agreements that India and Afghanistan have been negotiating for some years with India was discussed during Mr. Ghani’s visit to India. Several other agreements like the Motor Vehicles Agreement are pending due to the lack of support from Pakistan to Kabul’s plans for business with India. During the talks, officials described two trilaterals that have been announced this year, including the India-Iran-Afghanistan trilateral that has committed to completing the Chabahar project at the earliest, while the India-US-Afghanistan trilateral, revived from 2013, will be held on the sidelines of the UNGA later this month.
Responding to questions about the trilateral, Mr. Jaishankar said that “holding the trilateral is itself a message. The US has been a primary security provider for Afghanistan, and that is why we think it is important to engage them in this forum.”
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-afghanistan-expand-ties/article9107273.ece
The one billion dollars in assistance which will add to roughly two billion dollars India has already committed to Afghanistan in the past decade, will be used for “capacity and capability building” in education, health, agriculture, skill development, empowerment of women, energy, infrastructure and strengthening of democratic institutions, a joint statement issued during the working visit of President Ghani after he met PM Modi in Delhi. The supply of medicines and increasing airflights between India and Afghanistan were also discussed as areas of importance.
In a veiled reference to Pakistan on the subject of regional terrorism, both leaders called upon “the concerned” countries to “put an end to all sponsorship, support, safe havens and sanctuaries to terrorists including for those who target Afghanistan and India”.
“Both leaders reaffirmed their resolve to counter terrorism and strengthen security and defence cooperation as envisaged in the India-Afghanistan Strategic Partnership Agreement,” the statement added.
However, the two countries did not make any specific reference to military assistance that Afghanistan has requested from India. During a visit to Delhi a few weeks ago, Afghan Army chief General Qadam Shah Shahim had put in requests for more helicopters, tanks, artillery and ammunition, as well as training for more Afghan forces. Despite being asked repeatedly on the specifics of what India, who has traditionally been wary of supplying Afghanistan lethal military hardware, would provide Afghanistan, Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar said he had nothing to add beyond the joint statement.
Raising concerns over Pakistan’s continued blockage of transit rights for goods to travel between India and Afghanistan, however, Mr. Jaishankar said that the two leaders had expressed their disappointment over the fact that 1.7 lakh tonnes of wheat that India had offered Afghanistan in December 2015 remain undelivered. “The method of supply and the obstructions to it are blocking our supply, despite food shortages in Afghanistan,” Mr. Jaishankar said.
A senior Pakistani official accepted that the request had been received from India “sometime this year”, but told The Hindu that it was still “under consideration” and had not been rejected. Under the Afghanistan Pakistan Transit trade Agreement, trade and goods are only allowed from Afghanistan upto the Wagah border with India, but not from India to Afghanistan.
India and Afghanistan also signed an Extradition Treaty to facilitate exchange of wanted terrorists and criminals as well an agreement on mutual legal assistance, which had been delayed since April 2015, when President Ghani had last visited.
Apart from the landmark treaty on extradition, the two sides also sealed agreements on peaceful uses of outer space and on cooperation on civil and commercial matters. The meeting between the two heads also sought faster implementation of the trilateral agreement among Afghanistan, Iran and India sealed in May 2016 which is aimed at creating a network of regional connectivity around Iran’s Chahbahar port.
It is one of the many pacts
The extradition treaty is one of the several agreements that India and Afghanistan have been negotiating for some years with India was discussed during Mr. Ghani’s visit to India. Several other agreements like the Motor Vehicles Agreement are pending due to the lack of support from Pakistan to Kabul’s plans for business with India. During the talks, officials described two trilaterals that have been announced this year, including the India-Iran-Afghanistan trilateral that has committed to completing the Chabahar project at the earliest, while the India-US-Afghanistan trilateral, revived from 2013, will be held on the sidelines of the UNGA later this month.
Responding to questions about the trilateral, Mr. Jaishankar said that “holding the trilateral is itself a message. The US has been a primary security provider for Afghanistan, and that is why we think it is important to engage them in this forum.”
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-afghanistan-expand-ties/article9107273.ece
