U.S. Opinion on Indian Investment in Afghanistan

United States entered Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks. The main objective was to find the terrorists guilty of masterminding these attacks. As the time passed, the objectives changed from hunting down terrorists to the development and the preservation of the Afghan democracy and security. India too has the same objectives in Afghanistan. President Obama is working on getting the U.S. troops out of Afghanistan, leaving India supposedly to be the next security leader for the fragile country. India has been reluctant to take this responsibility because of Pakistan’s insecurities. Instead of security, India has taken the initiative of making Afghanistan’s $20 billion economy stronger. It has completed several projects thus far and has also taken up a project to extract minerals from the rich ores. United States supports India in its endeavors in the country. But at the same time, it also realizes that Pakistan is not happy about India building its influence in Afghanistan. The U.S. in appeasing Pakistan and assuring that India is only interested in helping Afghanistan economically and creating a peaceful region has taken no concrete action. Several splinter groups of Al-Qaeda have started to resurge in Afghanistan with a motive of halting its progress. Pakistani Intelligence called the Inter Services Intelligence supports some of these groups such as Lashkar-E-Taiba. These Pakistani supported terrorist groups have been part of several terrorists’ attacks India and South Asia. This has led to more animosity between the two countries, which makes India not being able assure Pakistan of its intension in Afghanistan. U.S. troop withdrawal by the U.S. has been slowed down because of the resurgence of these groups. India wants to build better relations with Pakistan but does not want Pakistan to have the ultimate veto which could hurt the political stability of the country.

United States should take an action to bring Pakistan and India on the same page to ultimately help Afghanistan. India and United States should work together in protecting the political fragility of Afghanistan. India recently finished building the new parliament building for Afghanistan and the U.S. already has a strong presence in the region. Both the countries know the political structure and since the U.S. is involved, Pakistan would not have to worry about India building too much of influence in Afghanistan. United States should also work on building an economic relationship between the three countries. India and Afghanistan already have a strong trade relationship. The Silk Road would go from Afghanistan through Pakistan crossing the Attari border into India. This will greatly reduces the transportation costs and time to transport material from Afghanistan to India. With its new mining project in Afghanistan, this will greatly benefit India. Since the road will run through Pakistan, it too can feel a part of the economic development in Afghanistan and also make some extra revenues for allowing India to transport. This will make the three countries interdependent, which will hopefully lead to reduced tensions and an amiable relationship and peace in the region.

http://www.cfr.org/afghanistan/why-united-states-should-work-india-stabilize-afghanistan/p36414