Indian MI chief visited Kabul to assess situation

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

To the contrary, the training that IA is imparting to ANA will enable them to be self sustained over the years in their own defence and make sure that their country is not then victim of another terrorist / political adventurism of Pakistan as part of its strategic depth / hole digging idea.

I think by leaving behind the Pro Taliban Pushtoon majority its useless and impossible to create and maitain an institution like ANA.
Its highly unlikely that such an isnitution would even function or exist when the yanks exit this country .
Bringing up ANA needs huge resources and time which US is unwilling to give .. However if they are Planning to pull out and let India send its troops to Afghanistan to look after their common interests , then its a different story .

 

[karan.1970]

I think by leaving behind the Pro Taliban Pushtoon majority its useless and impossible to create and maitain an institution like ANA.
Its highly unlikely that such an isnitution would even function or exist when the yanks exit this country .
Bringing up ANA needs huge resources and time which US is unwilling to give .. However if they are Planning to pull out and let India send its troops to Afghanistan to look after their common interests , then its a different story .

Forget the dreams of US getting out in a hurry. the 2011 timeline is to calm down the war detractors in the US. US will already be in the election season by then and their will be a totally different spin on this.

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

Forget the dreams of US getting out in a hurry. the 2011 timeline is to calm down the war detractors in the US. US will already be in the election season by then and their will be a totally different spin on this.

Frankly we don't want them to go either .... . Its kind of becoming a love story now . . .!

 

[BATMAN]

India’s Military Intelligence Chief conducts covert visit to Afghanistan

—General Loomba held furtive, yet detailed meetings with Afghan, US and NATO officials
—Delhi plans Afghan military takeover after US/ ISAF pullout
—Indian Military spy master’s stealth Afghan trip conducted ahead of top US defence officials’ India visit
—Holbrook kept Pakistanis busy in futile talks as per Pentagon, Langley plan
—Indian MI boss visited covert Indian troopers’ positions in Afghanistan, met Indian Army instructors of ANA
—Indian government, army resort to cohesive hostile approach towards Pakistan after Loomba’s Afghan trip
—Analysts smell some secret US development in Afghanistan through Indian army

By Makhdoom Babar in Islamabad & Christina Palmer in New Delhi

While the US special envoy on Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrook and US Defence Secretary Robert Gates are paying surprise visits to India, in a rather mysterious move, the Chief of India’s Military Intelligence (DGMI), Lt. General R.K Loomba has carried out a high profile, yet comprehensively clandestine visit to Afghanistan and held detailed parlays with the Afghan, US and NATO officials, a development that was never officially or unofficially reported to Pakistan by either the US, the NATO or the Afghan officials, reveal the investigations of The Daily Mail
The Daily Mail’s investigations indicate that this stealthy visit of the Director General of India’s Military Intelligence was carried out last week, just ahead of the visits of US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and US Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke to New Delhi
The Daily Mail’s findings disclose that Lt Gen. R.K. Loomba visited the headquarters of the Afghan National Army (ANA) in Kabul and also met with officials of Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the military officials, belonging to the US CENTCOM. Lt. General R.K Loomba, who, apart from being accompanied by some senior officials of the Indian MI, was also assisted by 2 senior RAW officials during all the meetings. These findings further reveal that General Loomba, despite holding discussions with the above mentioned Afghan, US and NATO officials, also visited some positions where India has covertly posted around two companies of regular Indian soldiers of Indian army’s Special Services Group in the disguise of members of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) while he is reported to have held a detailed meeting with the instructors of the Indian army, posted officially in Afghanistan to teach English language to the personnel of Afghan National Army while they actually belong to the Military Intelligence and RAW and are actually training the ANA special units about combat strategies against Pakistan army.
Though a highly credible at the army Headquarters in New Delhi told The Daily Mail that the purpose of the visit of General Loomba to Afghanistan was to assess preparations of the Afghan National Army in the wake of the US announcing a surge-and-exit policy through this year, yet the sources refrained to explain that why the visit was so secret and why the MI Chief had to go to Afghanistan instead of holding same discussions with the relevant officials from the US who were constantly visiting New Delhi.
The sources also say that the Indian military officials assess that the US/ NATO pullout would be gradual and Afghan National Army units would be asked to take over charge of areas sector by sector. India is involved in training ANA officers in India but quiet proposals have been floated for the deployment of Indian instructors in Afghanistan for the Afghan army.
However the findings of The Daily Mail indicate that the things have gone far beyond just appointing some more instructors of Indian Army in Afghanistan but the Indians actually plan to gradually take over the military responsibilities in Afghanistan after the US/ ISAF pullout is completed
The Daily Mail’s findings disclose that a fresh move in this direction was initiated when the Chief of the US Pacific Command, Adm. Robert Willard, visited New Delhi by the end of last year, apparently for discussions on security assessments in South Asia. And held meetings with top Indian officials including the Indian Army Chief General Deepak Kaporr and MI Chief Lt. General R.K Loomba. Admiral Robert is on record to have said that India had to decide if it wanted to expand its role in Afghanistan.
The Daily Mail’s findings indicate that while Richard Holbrooke was engaging Pakistani civil and military as well as intelligence officials in highly unproductive talks and while he was breaking bread with top Pakistani politicians in Islamabad, he knew that his government’s military officials were having secret meetings with Indian Military Intelligence Chief in Kabul but never disclosed it to anyone during his top level meetings in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. These findings reveal that Holbrooke embarked upon recent Pakistan visit with a different agenda this time while the Pentagon and Langley had set a new menu for him. This time he was supposed to read the minds of Pakistan’s political and military leadership and then to go to the Indians to brief them about the same before the US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates’ visit to New Delhi to evolve a new strategy of US President Obama’s that ciphered chapter of his ****** policy which has never been unveiled to Pakistan. Gates would apparently be visiting New Delhi to discuss the deliberations of the upcoming London Conference on Afghanistan but he is actually carrying an entirely different agenda for talks with Indians and thus Delhi dashed its MI Chief to Afghanistan to come up with certain conclusions to finalize the things with the Americans in the direction of India’s military role in Afghanistan.
The Daily Mail’s investigations indicate that the Indians and the NATO/ISAF as well as the Americans have been desirous a larger military role of Indian in Afghanistan. These investigations indicate that India has for long, cultivated friendship with Afghanistan in order to encircle Pakistan and to extend its influence in Central Asia . (Indeed ‘non-aligned’ India was one of the only countries in the world to recognize the Soviet-installed communist regime in Kabul. ). There has earlier been little prospect of Indian forces helping the NATO-U.S.-Afghan effort against the Taliban. The top brass in the Indian military now sees Afghanistan as belonging to their expanding sphere of influence, there’s a lot of intoxicated talk of ‘superpower’ status at Delhi and thus they are not much comfortable with the U.S. and foreign military presence in Afghanistan and now desire to take over the matters in their hands.
The Daily Mail’s investigations point out that till 2006, NATO, the US led Western military alliance, desperately wanted Indian troops’ deployment for missions in volatile regions like Afghanistan and Kosovo. NATO officials at Brussels-based headquarters, are on record to have said that Indian troops would be part of a wider engagement the alliance envisages with non-member states. The alliance did not expect Indian troops for its missions overnight but as a consequence of a protracted engagement that will drive policy change in New Delhi and reforms within NATO. Beginnings were made at two levels. NATO headquarters briefed Indian diplomats at Brussels . The NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Schaffer met with the then Defence Minister of India Pranab Mukherjee and held detailed discussions over the matter.
The Daily Mail’s findings indicate that India has long been looking for an opportunity to flex its muscles in the Afghanistan imbroglio. It has been traditionally using the Afghan card to spell gloom and doom in Pakistan . As early as the 1962 Sino-Indian conflict, India urged the then Afghan government to deploy its armed forces along the Durand Line to dissuade Pakistan from any adventurism against India and exploit its weakness when it was being routed by the Chinese along Ladakh. During the 1965 and 1971 Pakistan-Indian wars too, Afghanistan sided with India . During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the decade of seventies, Pakistan became a front-line state and with the help of USA and its allies, helped thwart the Soviet invasion and limited to the Durand Line and ultimately force the Soviets into retreat. India aided the Soviet secret service KGB and Afghan spy agency Khad to attempt to destabilize Pakistan through sabotage, sedition, subversion and acts of terrorism. The seeds of rebellion were sown in Balochistan, the fires of which are now again being stoked by Indian spy agency RAW.
The Daily Mail’s findings further indicate that the advent of Taliban Rule in Afghanistan threw a damper on Indian machinations to use Afghan soil to destabilize Pakistan ; however, 9/11 provided a fresh impetus to Indian nefarious aims towards Pakistan . Since its erstwhile allies the Northern Alliance rose to power in Afghanistan , following the US-led invasion, India made the most of it by deploying Indian personnel working on various projects with the Afghan people and government under the grab of the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the country. There are approximately 3,000-4,000 Indian intelligence agents, working under cover on several such projects across Afghanistan . India has used its trade centers and its four Consulates to man with RAW and its four Consulates to man with RAW personnel to hatch plots against Pakistan .
“If deployed now, Indian forces will give respite to the ISAF and NATO forces but sink the Indians deep into the Afghan quagmire. The choice is ours if we want to face the humiliation and ignominy of another disaster”, said Major General P.K Singh ( Rtd) while giving his comments over the issue to The Daily Mail
The Daily Mail’s findings reveal that the Indians, around 2008, agreed to make a massive deployment of Indian troops in Afghanistan and planned to send around 120,000 to150,000 soldier to Afghanistan but later New Delhi reversed the decision. Even the current Indian Defence Minister A.K Antony, at one stage clearly ruled out any possibility of sending Indian troops to jointly operate with the US-led ISAF forces in Afghanistan , asserting that it was there for extending humanitarian assistance for reconstruction and rehabilitation of the country. However, it appears that Indians, now are once again desirous of assuming a military role in Afghanistan and perhaps this time they want to make it with a heavy package, but most probably after the US-led/ NATO troops are withdrawn.
The Daily Mail’s findings indicate that the Indian government has recently launched a clandestine media campaign in support of sending troops to Afghanistan . Surprisingly, many Indian writers, intellectuals and media people have suddenly started talking and writing in print and electronic media of India to argue as to why India should not send its troops to Afghanistan . In one such case The Indian national Interest Review in its current edition publishes a report suggesting that “ India has the capacity to equip, station and supply several divisions of its troops in Afghanistan . Many Afghan political leaders from President Hamid Karzai to members of the Northern Alliance are highly likely to welcome India ’s decision. Contrary to the myths that make the rounds in the popular media, the Afghan people do not reflexively oppose foreign troops on their soil; remember they welcomed international troops who came to rid the country of Mullah Omar’s Taliban regime in 2002. Neighbouring countries, including Iran and Tajikistan , will support an Indian military presence in Afghanistan provided their interests are taken into account. So will Russia . And not least, the United States will welcome it for even if Indian troops do not eventually deploy, the very possibility of their arrival will change Washington ’s bargaining terms with the Pakistani military establishment.”
The Daily Mail’s findings further indicate that soon after General Loomba returned to Delhi from his secret trip to Afghanistan , the tones and policies of both the Indian Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian army leadership emerged as totally and changed and both became rather hostile towards Pakistan . While the Indian External Affairs Secretary started howling on Pakistan to “Do More” to curb terrorism and stated that there was a huge infrastructure of terrorism in Pakistan , the Indian army leadership started snarling that the ratio of infiltration of militants from Pakistani borders had dramatically increased in Kashmir region. This joint premeditated campaign against Pakistan by the Indian External Affairs Ministry and the Indian army leadership simply out of the blue, indicates that Delhi has planned something different for Pakistan now and General Loomba’s covert Afghan trip has a lot to do with it.

 

[karan.1970]

^^^^^^
Is this daily mail anything like our India TV??

 

[super_star]

India’s Military Intelligence Chief conducts covert visit to Afghanistan

—General Loomba held furtive, yet detailed meetings with Afghan, US and NATO officials
—Delhi plans Afghan military takeover after US/ ISAF pullout
—Indian Military spy master’s stealth Afghan trip conducted ahead of top US defence officials’ India visit
—Holbrook kept Pakistanis busy in futile talks as per Pentagon, Langley plan
—Indian MI boss visited covert Indian troopers’ positions in Afghanistan, met Indian Army instructors of ANA
—Indian government, army resort to cohesive hostile approach towards Pakistan after Loomba’s Afghan trip
—Analysts smell some secret US development in Afghanistan through Indian army

By Makhdoom Babar in Islamabad & Christina Palmer in New Delhi

While the US special envoy on Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrook and US Defence Secretary Robert Gates are paying surprise visits to India, in a rather mysterious move, the Chief of India’s Military Intelligence (DGMI), Lt. General R.K Loomba has carried out a high profile, yet comprehensively clandestine visit to Afghanistan and held detailed parlays with the Afghan, US and NATO officials, a development that was never officially or unofficially reported to Pakistan by either the US, the NATO or the Afghan officials, reveal the investigations of The Daily Mail
The Daily Mail’s investigations indicate that this stealthy visit of the Director General of India’s Military Intelligence was carried out last week, just ahead of the visits of US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and US Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke to New Delhi
The Daily Mail’s findings disclose that Lt Gen. R.K. Loomba visited the headquarters of the Afghan National Army (ANA) in Kabul and also met with officials of Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the military officials, belonging to the US CENTCOM. Lt. General R.K Loomba, who, apart from being accompanied by some senior officials of the Indian MI, was also assisted by 2 senior RAW officials during all the meetings. These findings further reveal that General Loomba, despite holding discussions with the above mentioned Afghan, US and NATO officials, also visited some positions where India has covertly posted around two companies of regular Indian soldiers of Indian army’s Special Services Group in the disguise of members of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) while he is reported to have held a detailed meeting with the instructors of the Indian army, posted officially in Afghanistan to teach English language to the personnel of Afghan National Army while they actually belong to the Military Intelligence and RAW and are actually training the ANA special units about combat strategies against Pakistan army.
Though a highly credible at the army Headquarters in New Delhi told The Daily Mail that the purpose of the visit of General Loomba to Afghanistan was to assess preparations of the Afghan National Army in the wake of the US announcing a surge-and-exit policy through this year, yet the sources refrained to explain that why the visit was so secret and why the MI Chief had to go to Afghanistan instead of holding same discussions with the relevant officials from the US who were constantly visiting New Delhi.
The sources also say that the Indian military officials assess that the US/ NATO pullout would be gradual and Afghan National Army units would be asked to take over charge of areas sector by sector. India is involved in training ANA officers in India but quiet proposals have been floated for the deployment of Indian instructors in Afghanistan for the Afghan army.
However the findings of The Daily Mail indicate that the things have gone far beyond just appointing some more instructors of Indian Army in Afghanistan but the Indians actually plan to gradually take over the military responsibilities in Afghanistan after the US/ ISAF pullout is completed
The Daily Mail’s findings disclose that a fresh move in this direction was initiated when the Chief of the US Pacific Command, Adm. Robert Willard, visited New Delhi by the end of last year, apparently for discussions on security assessments in South Asia. And held meetings with top Indian officials including the Indian Army Chief General Deepak Kaporr and MI Chief Lt. General R.K Loomba. Admiral Robert is on record to have said that India had to decide if it wanted to expand its role in Afghanistan.
The Daily Mail’s findings indicate that while Richard Holbrooke was engaging Pakistani civil and military as well as intelligence officials in highly unproductive talks and while he was breaking bread with top Pakistani politicians in Islamabad, he knew that his government’s military officials were having secret meetings with Indian Military Intelligence Chief in Kabul but never disclosed it to anyone during his top level meetings in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. These findings reveal that Holbrooke embarked upon recent Pakistan visit with a different agenda this time while the Pentagon and Langley had set a new menu for him. This time he was supposed to read the minds of Pakistan’s political and military leadership and then to go to the Indians to brief them about the same before the US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates’ visit to New Delhi to evolve a new strategy of US President Obama’s that ciphered chapter of his ****** policy which has never been unveiled to Pakistan. Gates would apparently be visiting New Delhi to discuss the deliberations of the upcoming London Conference on Afghanistan but he is actually carrying an entirely different agenda for talks with Indians and thus Delhi dashed its MI Chief to Afghanistan to come up with certain conclusions to finalize the things with the Americans in the direction of India’s military role in Afghanistan.
The Daily Mail’s investigations indicate that the Indians and the NATO/ISAF as well as the Americans have been desirous a larger military role of Indian in Afghanistan. These investigations indicate that India has for long, cultivated friendship with Afghanistan in order to encircle Pakistan and to extend its influence in Central Asia . (Indeed ‘non-aligned’ India was one of the only countries in the world to recognize the Soviet-installed communist regime in Kabul. ). There has earlier been little prospect of Indian forces helping the NATO-U.S.-Afghan effort against the Taliban. The top brass in the Indian military now sees Afghanistan as belonging to their expanding sphere of influence, there’s a lot of intoxicated talk of ‘superpower’ status at Delhi and thus they are not much comfortable with the U.S. and foreign military presence in Afghanistan and now desire to take over the matters in their hands.
The Daily Mail’s investigations point out that till 2006, NATO, the US led Western military alliance, desperately wanted Indian troops’ deployment for missions in volatile regions like Afghanistan and Kosovo. NATO officials at Brussels-based headquarters, are on record to have said that Indian troops would be part of a wider engagement the alliance envisages with non-member states. The alliance did not expect Indian troops for its missions overnight but as a consequence of a protracted engagement that will drive policy change in New Delhi and reforms within NATO. Beginnings were made at two levels. NATO headquarters briefed Indian diplomats at Brussels . The NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Schaffer met with the then Defence Minister of India Pranab Mukherjee and held detailed discussions over the matter.
The Daily Mail’s findings indicate that India has long been looking for an opportunity to flex its muscles in the Afghanistan imbroglio. It has been traditionally using the Afghan card to spell gloom and doom in Pakistan . As early as the 1962 Sino-Indian conflict, India urged the then Afghan government to deploy its armed forces along the Durand Line to dissuade Pakistan from any adventurism against India and exploit its weakness when it was being routed by the Chinese along Ladakh. During the 1965 and 1971 Pakistan-Indian wars too, Afghanistan sided with India . During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the decade of seventies, Pakistan became a front-line state and with the help of USA and its allies, helped thwart the Soviet invasion and limited to the Durand Line and ultimately force the Soviets into retreat. India aided the Soviet secret service KGB and Afghan spy agency Khad to attempt to destabilize Pakistan through sabotage, sedition, subversion and acts of terrorism. The seeds of rebellion were sown in Balochistan, the fires of which are now again being stoked by Indian spy agency RAW.
The Daily Mail’s findings further indicate that the advent of Taliban Rule in Afghanistan threw a damper on Indian machinations to use Afghan soil to destabilize Pakistan ; however, 9/11 provided a fresh impetus to Indian nefarious aims towards Pakistan . Since its erstwhile allies the Northern Alliance rose to power in Afghanistan , following the US-led invasion, India made the most of it by deploying Indian personnel working on various projects with the Afghan people and government under the grab of the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the country. There are approximately 3,000-4,000 Indian intelligence agents, working under cover on several such projects across Afghanistan . India has used its trade centers and its four Consulates to man with RAW and its four Consulates to man with RAW personnel to hatch plots against Pakistan .
“If deployed now, Indian forces will give respite to the ISAF and NATO forces but sink the Indians deep into the Afghan quagmire. The choice is ours if we want to face the humiliation and ignominy of another disaster”, said Major General P.K Singh ( Rtd) while giving his comments over the issue to The Daily Mail
The Daily Mail’s findings reveal that the Indians, around 2008, agreed to make a massive deployment of Indian troops in Afghanistan and planned to send around 120,000 to150,000 soldier to Afghanistan but later New Delhi reversed the decision. Even the current Indian Defence Minister A.K Antony, at one stage clearly ruled out any possibility of sending Indian troops to jointly operate with the US-led ISAF forces in Afghanistan , asserting that it was there for extending humanitarian assistance for reconstruction and rehabilitation of the country. However, it appears that Indians, now are once again desirous of assuming a military role in Afghanistan and perhaps this time they want to make it with a heavy package, but most probably after the US-led/ NATO troops are withdrawn.
The Daily Mail’s findings indicate that the Indian government has recently launched a clandestine media campaign in support of sending troops to Afghanistan . Surprisingly, many Indian writers, intellectuals and media people have suddenly started talking and writing in print and electronic media of India to argue as to why India should not send its troops to Afghanistan . In one such case The Indian national Interest Review in its current edition publishes a report suggesting that “ India has the capacity to equip, station and supply several divisions of its troops in Afghanistan . Many Afghan political leaders from President Hamid Karzai to members of the Northern Alliance are highly likely to welcome India ’s decision. Contrary to the myths that make the rounds in the popular media, the Afghan people do not reflexively oppose foreign troops on their soil; remember they welcomed international troops who came to rid the country of Mullah Omar’s Taliban regime in 2002. Neighbouring countries, including Iran and Tajikistan , will support an Indian military presence in Afghanistan provided their interests are taken into account. So will Russia . And not least, the United States will welcome it for even if Indian troops do not eventually deploy, the very possibility of their arrival will change Washington ’s bargaining terms with the Pakistani military establishment.”
The Daily Mail’s findings further indicate that soon after General Loomba returned to Delhi from his secret trip to Afghanistan , the tones and policies of both the Indian Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian army leadership emerged as totally and changed and both became rather hostile towards Pakistan . While the Indian External Affairs Secretary started howling on Pakistan to “Do More” to curb terrorism and stated that there was a huge infrastructure of terrorism in Pakistan , the Indian army leadership started snarling that the ratio of infiltration of militants from Pakistani borders had dramatically increased in Kashmir region. This joint premeditated campaign against Pakistan by the Indian External Affairs Ministry and the Indian army leadership simply out of the blue, indicates that Delhi has planned something different for Pakistan now and General Loomba’s covert Afghan trip has a lot to do with it.

Batman,

No offence, Looks like your invited in strategic meeting of all the intelligence oraganization(RAW, CIA, MASSOD etc). btw do you work there to take meeting minutes?

 

[BATMAN]

Batman,

No offence, Looks like your invited in strategic meeting of all the intelligence oraganization(RAW, CIA, MASSOD etc). btw do you work there to take meeting minutes?

comment on the article not me! and try to stick to the subject matter.

 

[Stumper]

Is there anything new being disclosed in this post? Isnt INDIA quite open about the role it wants to play in Afg?

I found this line interesting.

"Indians actually plan to gradually take over the military responsibilities in Afghanistan after the US/ ISAF pullout is completed".

"Takeover Military responsibilities" . No sir, thats not something to be decided by the GoI alone. Any such move, if desired, will have to be discussed in our Parliament. But more than that -- Is Indian Think tank so dis-illusioned that they can dream of succedding where USA seems to be failing?

And lastly, what more do we gain in the long term by coming in the foreground as against continuing with the silent player in the story (as we do today)?

 

[Enigma SIG]

Would sources from within army and ISI be enough?

Pak army aside; i have a source who says bugti was trained by the US army in the UAE and all logistics to the baluch insurgency are provided from the UAE bases courtesy of the US

 

[Naradmuni]

Pak army aside; i have a source who says bugti was trained by the US army in the UAE and all logistics to the baluch insurgency are provided from the UAE bases courtesy of the US

Sir, I can guess that your source could be Ziad Hamid.

 

[Enigma SIG]

Sir, I can guess that your source could be Ziad Hamid.

OTOH, could be bharat verma

 

[Iggy]

@Batman

Is this Christina Palmer the cross dresser Ahmed Quraishi?..People stop listening to his madness he started writing in a girls name ..nice credible link you have given mate

 

[Naradmuni]

OTOH, could be bharat verma

Only if its a useless rant about India

 

[S-2]

On the whole, dismissive. OTOH, even blind squirrels occasionally find a nut.

There are some excellent points made by Indian posters which elude their less democratically-sophisticated Pakistani cousins. Unlike Pakistan's rubber-stamp nat'l assembly, India has a vast and divergent polity represented within its parliament.

As such, there will be transparent debate on any policy suggesting close military cooperation between India and Afghanistan in the future. It may not shake out as the DAILY MAIL suggests nor in the manner suggested if it does shake out at all.

However, the below suggestion by the DAILY MAIL, speculation though it is, appears to be the nut found by our blind squirrel-

"The alliance did not expect Indian troops for its missions overnight but as a consequence of a protracted engagement that will drive policy change in New Delhi and reforms within NATO."

Think about it. You're India. Your relationship with both the GoA and ISAF/NATO/AMERICA/UN WRT Afghanistan is, to date, impeccable. You've invested over $1.2B of valued treasury in Afghanistan, however intoxicated by Indian visions of superpower status, which could be instead easing the burdens of India's own enduring poverty.

Do you allow that investment to fail if convinced that the GoA will succumb to taliban pressure in the absence of viable support from ISAF/UN? Maybe, maybe not. The economic principle of "sunk costs" suggests that no project that's inherently a loser deserves one penny more. OTOH, if India is unconvinced that its Afghan aspirations are a loser because it can do what can't be assured by NATO and, in so doing protect its investment, will it ante up?

Perhaps.

India's dilemma starts with sustaining any force injected into Afghanistan. Can it do so safely and sustain such? I don't know. Could it have an effect that NATO hasn't? Separate issue that needs consideration. Let's do so.

1.) Does the Indian army possess muslim officers and troops whom are loyal to the Indian government and their policies within their combat formations? I presume so. Would those officers and men be watched for changes to their attitudes? Unquestionably, but if we assume their loyalty to India, then they can be viewed as the local liaison to any afghans.

So, any Indian unit in Afghanistan may well be able to project a S. Asian and muslim face to its Afghan hosts- a clear advantage over ISAF generally. Could it inject sufficient forces with an adequate muslim face to make a difference? Quite likely. What kind of difference? Well, short of the Pakistani Army abandoning its eastern borders altogether and attempting a mechanized assault through the Khyber pass into Afghanistan, I'd suggest that six to eight Indian divisions with supporting corps elements and army aviation would be able to bolster the continuing maturation of the Afghan Army and do so in ways that perhaps ISAF has been unable.

2.) Will ISAF be gone altogether? Not likely. U.S. troops will depart contingent upon conditions on the ground. Obama made that clear. Oh! There'll be a departure to satisfy election year yearnings of the peace element within the democratic party but don't be surprised if that withdrawal constitutes as little as one token soldier beginning July 2011. Dramatized, no doubt, but you get the gist.

So our departure won't be quite so hasty as some in Pakistan and America pray. Nor, likely, would India's entry to replace such, if such entry occurs at all.

Still, once invested as India is now, it has much to lose by simply acquiescing to a taliban takeover if it believes India might otherwise make a difference.

Final caveat? Afghanistan. It is an independant country that shall be the final determinant of who is invited to assist its people. To date, that's ISAF under the UN mandate but nothing stops the GoA from shifting that to whomever.

As they say, "Any port in a storm" and also, "beggars can't be choosers". Afghanistan will seek help from any corner of the globe to sustain itself. Were Pakistan's policies not so unbalanced WRT ethnicities other than pashtu within Afghanistan, that may well have been them. There are unquestionably strands of legitimate ties between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Sadly for Islamabad and Rawalpindi, these were never considered sufficiently important to develop.

That exclusionary policy which has overtly favored the afghan pashtus in the guise of the taliban and, earlier, Hekmatyar, has also now brought its crows home to roost.

While I've heretofore rejected any intrigue by India nor buy into any such at present, I've little doubt that India will face a conumdrum with regard to how valuable it finds its efforts and whether they might be able to sustain what's been started by ISAF and the UN.

Thanks.

 

[karan.1970]

On the whole, dismissive. OTOH, even blind squirrels occasionally find a nut.

There are some excellent points made by Indian posters which elude their less democratically-sophisticated Pakistani cousins. Unlike Pakistan's rubber-stamp nat'l assembly, India has a vast and divergent polity represented within its parliament.

As such, there will be transparent debate on any policy suggesting close military cooperation between India and Afghanistan in the future. It may not shake out as the DAILY MAIL suggests nor in the manner suggested if it does shake out at all.

However, the below suggestion by the DAILY MAIL, speculation though it is, appears to be the nut found by our blind squirrel-

"The alliance did not expect Indian troops for its missions overnight but as a consequence of a protracted engagement that will drive policy change in New Delhi and reforms within NATO."

Think about it. You're India. Your relationship with both the GoA and ISAF/NATO/AMERICA/UN WRT Afghanistan is, to date, impeccable. You've invested over $1.2B of valued treasury in Afghanistan, however intoxicated by Indian visions of superpower status, which could be instead easing the burdens of India's own enduring poverty.

Do you allow that investment to fail if convinced that the GoA will succumb to taliban pressure in the absence of viable support from ISAF/UN? Maybe, maybe not. The economic principle of "sunk costs" suggests that no project that's inherently a loser deserves one penny more. OTOH, if India is unconvinced that its Afghan aspirations are a loser because it can do what can't be assured by NATO and, in so doing protect its investment, will it ante up?

Perhaps.

India's dilemma starts with sustaining any force injected into Afghanistan. Can it do so safely and sustain such? I don't know. Could it have an effect that NATO hasn't? Separate issue that needs consideration. Let's do so.

1.) Does the Indian army possess muslim officers and troops whom are loyal to the Indian government and their policies within their combat formations? I presume so. Would those officers and men be watched for changes to their attitudes? Unquestionably, but if we assume their loyalty to India, then they can be viewed as the local liaison to any afghans.

So, any Indian unit in Afghanistan may well be able to project a S. Asian and muslim face to its Afghan hosts- a clear advantage over ISAF generally. Could it inject sufficient forces with an adequate muslim face to make a difference? Quite likely. What kind of difference? Well, short of the Pakistani Army abandoning its eastern borders altogether and attempting a mechanized assault through the Khyber pass into Afghanistan, I'd suggest that six to eight Indian divisions with supporting corps elements and army aviation would be able to bolster the continuing maturation of the Afghan Army and do so in ways that perhaps ISAF has been unable.

2.) Will ISAF be gone altogether? Not likely. U.S. troops will depart contingent upon conditions on the ground. Obama made that clear. Oh! There'll be a departure to satisfy election year yearnings of the peace element within the democratic party but don't be surprised if that withdrawal constitutes as little as one token soldier beginning July 2011. Dramatized, no doubt, but you get the gist.

So our departure won't be quite so hasty as some in Pakistan and America pray. Nor, likely, would India's entry to replace such, if such entry occurs at all.

Still, once invested as India is now, it has much to lose by simply acquiescing to a taliban takeover if it believes India might otherwise make a difference.

Final caveat? Afghanistan. It is an independant country that shall be the final determinant of who is invited to assist its people. To date, that's ISAF under the UN mandate but nothing stops the GoA from shifting that to whomever.

As they say, "Any port in a storm" and also, "beggars can't be choosers". Afghanistan will seek help from any corner of the globe to sustain itself. Were Pakistan's policies not so unbalanced WRT ethnicities other than pashtu within Afghanistan, that may well have been them. There are unquestionably strands of legitimate ties between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Sadly for Islamabad and Rawalpindi, these were never considered sufficiently important to develop.

That exclusionary policy which has overtly favored the afghan pashtus in the guise of the taliban and, earlier, Hekmatyar, has also now brought its crows home to roost.

While I've heretofore rejected any intrigue by India nor buy into any such at present, I've little doubt that India will face a conumdrum with regard to how valuable it finds its efforts and whether they might be able to sustain what's been started by ISAF and the UN.

Thanks.

Great analysis... thanks..