Although Afghan President Hamid Karzai stated that the Strategic Partnership Agreement between Afghanistan and India will not affect ties with Pakistan, it is clear that this has already started being perceived with suspicion.
The dynamics of the region, the tension between the two neighbours and the US-led war on terror could possibly lead to further obstacles aggravated by this pact.
Karzai said that Pakistan is a “twin brother” and India is a “great friend”. He also said that he doesn’t expect this relationship to go beyond Afghanistan and India. However, there remains too much distrust between the “twin brothers” to actually believe various statements issued by each other’s offices.
Can Pakistan continue to focus on working mutually with Afghanistan to battle militancy as opposed to investing itself further in the realm of mistrust?
Although this agreement between Pakistan’s two neighbours is nothing new, will it cause further tension in its own relationship with these nations?
Most of all, will this agreement with India really have no impact on the Pak-Afghan relationship?
Dawn.com invites its readers to give their views and suggestions.
We should respect the agreement between two sovereign countries. Let us focus on sorting our own problems rather than worrying about what other countries are doing. India is a big market – let us also boost trade with them and rebuild our shattered economy.
depends on what sort of agreement beween two sovereign countries has been made… agreements could be destructive for a third party.
Wise perspective Akram!
As a sane way of looking it, Pakistan should work with India and Afghanistan and Iran, to weed out criminal elements thereby help secure the whole region.
Also its attitiude should show maturity rather than jittery and arrogance
Given the performance of the Indian commandoes in the Mumbai incident, the Afghan history of never being conqured and the Indian History of being conqured many many times, the traing of the Afghan army by the Indian army might just provide the comedy relif needed by Pakistan to lift its spirits. Nothing to worry about
Funny but very true
Pakistan should join then in her own interest.
Apropos of earlier comments by Kanak and Furkan, I assume that India wont raise objections if we train the Bangledshi and Nepalese armed forces as soon as they start making statements laced with hostility towards India.
Afganistan is a soverign country so it has the right to choose friends who can help it.Pakistan must not dictate Afganistan as to which country it chooses as its friend.
Those of us who were longing for improved relations between India and Pakistan will be disappointed with this Indo-Afghan pact. I wished the two countries had not rushed for this pact. This would further create a drift between India and Pakistan and not help the cause of peace. This pact between India and Afghanistan will certainly increase mutual distrust between these two countries.
I would appeal that India being a larger and stronger country should make some bold moves to gain the trust and confidence of Pakistani people. This is not a time to tighten the noose against each other as this will not make life easy for anyone in both countries. India needs to show magnonimity and act like a matured big power of the subcontinent. The idea of squeezing Pakistan with the help of Northern Alliance and Karzai is not likely to succeed. Bloodshed and the financial costsin Afghanistan had not allowed Russians and Americans to gain any control or foothold in that country and it would be simply foolish for India to try it now. I am equally concerned about the people of Pakistan and India and I want to see them live and progress together and stop thinking of hurting each other.
Mr kanak,Pakistan is home to about 2 million afgans refs and im not counting Pakistani Pashtuns who already are in Pakistan,so much stuff smuggled from pakistan that feeds the afgans,how can we Pakistanis mind our own business when we have blood ties with Afghanistan…
A stable Afghanistan is in the interest of Pakistan.Why should Indian influence be against Pakistan?Why India need Afghanistan to fight Pakistan?Taliban ruled Afghanistan is not in the interest of Pakistan,India and Afghanistan. It may increase influence of military in all the three countries and bring more miseries to it’s people.After many decades of war people of Afghanistan needs peace.Remember what Mrs Margaret Thechar said “we will fight the Russians till last Afghan” and now Pakistan wants to fight the Americans till last Afghan?. If Afghanistan is not stabilised after America leaves there will be a civil war and anarchy which is not in the interest of the region.
Pakistan has no issue when it comes to bi-lateral trade between AF-indo relations but Pakistan has and will have objections to Afghan Police and Particullarly Army being trained by India. In reality no country would like hostile armies on two boarders.
You are mistaken. Pak does not allow Indian goods for Afghanistan to pass through Pak. Get your facts straight.
It is highly immature for Pakistan to comment on what is bilateral relations between two soverign countries. Should India say similar things on Pakistan – China bilateral relations?
Pakistan, India and Afghanistan will live side by side for centuries and Pakistan has a responsibility to be a good neighbour. There cannot be any smoke with fire, regardless of how small or big it is. NATO, US, Afghanistan and India all are saying that Pakistan is messing around. Like Hilary recently said and you can see on your bitten hands, if you rear a dangerous animal in your backyard, it will bite both you and your neighbour. We could be a lot richer, lot prosperous countries if start to live like well behaved and responsible neighbours. Both India & Pakistan will have to sacrifice somewhat to be able to walk the road together but first let us drop the knives we have been carrying.
Pakistan should build trust with Afghanistan…and not dwell on what a third nation (India) is doing, Pakistan should really begin seeing its future through its own eyes and actions, rather than through what wanting to ‘stategize’ on everything, since that clearly has not worked.
Now is the good opportunity for Pakistan to forget the past and declare that India is our best and trusted friend because we have same culture, language food and we sing same folk songs(Mirza, Heer Ranjha and Sasi punu) look similar. As Pakistan do not have any commonality with China. This will help to put down the fire which is going on in Pakistan
Pakistan needs to grow up and act mature, but I don’t see that happenning just reading about our FO warning Afghanistan, Pakistan needs to just severe all ties with all extremists organization, if they are thinking that Taliban will be back in power that is not happenning. US will never succumb to defeat, this is not Veitnam, US still has overwhelming support of its citizens even after 10 years and Pakistan needs to realize that. Be a good nieghbour work, help Afghanistan fight the extermist organizations and not worry about its Eastern border, just give its 100% to exterminate the real enemy.
Come out of Box and Think. Peaceful neighbor is good for Pakistan. Why do you think Afghan as enemy? Help Afghan to build their country or stay away if some one is willing to do. Pakistan should think about long term benefit due to proximity to Afghan. More export (both Service and Product, since Afghan need them for very long time) and better opportunity for Pakistan business.
For a change, try to think differently. Stop supporting militant or related elements and help Afghan to build their country. If you don’t do that, not only you ruin Afghan life, you ruin your own people life by exposing militancy in your own soil, gesturing yourself as terrorist state to the world and supporting thousands of refugees from Afghan who will never leave your country.
The point here is that this Indo-Afghan “agreement” is all about Karzai’s own survival and little else. Given the recent happenings, Karzai is boxed in a corner and has few friends left; his relationships with the Americans, Pakistanis and some of his own folks have soured. Hence he is playing this “India card” as he desperately seeks to be relevant.
It is harder to see what India gains from this. Given the ray of hope that is emerging in Indo-Pak relations, it would be folly on India’s part to jeopardize that in order to make Karzai feel better! But then, agreements like these have some symbolic worth as India tries to reinforce influence in Afghanistan and maybe that is at work here.
The real question however is whether the forces opposed to better Indo-Pak relations in India had any role to play in the Indo-Afghan agreement and whether their counterparts in Pakistan will leverage this in order to harden Pakistan’s position vis a vis India.
Afghanistan and/or India, should they be genuinely interested in peace of the region, both need to solve their problems with Pakistan first. Afghanistan can only learn from the history of India-Pakistan relationship or for that matter from India’s relationship with any of its neighbors. India has now started to become friendly with neighbors of its neighbors, an acknowledgement of its failure to become friendly with its neighbors. It is not going to work particularly with Afghanistan, given the nature of its history. The so-called strategic alliance appears more political than substance.
Pakistan has been lobbying for a similar agreement with China for years and without success, only because its China, not India. It’s time for a thorough review of terribly failed India’s foreign policy.
For terrorism to be controlled at AF-PAK border, Afganistan needs better infrastructure and better trained security forces who also have feel of the local terrain , culture and geography.India can provide all this at a short notice and this may also help Pakistan in the long run to control the violence inside their borders too.
Pakistan should face reality.Taliban problems and sub sects murder not forgetting your weak economy.You have to face reality.This is a fact of life.Make your peace with India and work together in Afghanistan.First Pakistan has to rid itself of your problem creators.That is where your problem will lie.
What’s the big deal? It’s not like there are going to be divisions of Indian troops in Afghanistan.
It’s clear from what the US and the USSR went through, that that would not be a good idea.
Pakistan needs to take care of their own house. Afghanistan is a sovereign nation that has the right to decide for their own security. Pakistan should learn from it and make friends with India too since all these countries fortune are tied with each other being next door neighbors.
pakistan foreign ministry’s statement itself is immature & ridiculous.
I think Afghanistan and India are free to agree on whatever strategic relations they want for themselves. But this one is clearly a provocative step taken by both. The reasons are obvious, Pakistan has legitimate concerns over Indian involvement in Balouchistan through her 11 consulates near Pakistan border in Afghanistan.
Even though we can say that this one does not relate Pakistan at all and should not be bothered by it but clearly the intentions of Indians are always questionable. Afterall what is the reason for India to spend billions of dollars in a country with which she doesn’t even share a border where as these dollars are badly needed in India itself for development.
This is yet another one of those tactics that nations of the world play to pressurize their rivals and create conspiracies to destabilize them. India is doing what normally a rival should be doing. Karzai is not the representative of Afghans, he is just a front face of the anti-afghan anti-pakistani US agenda. If US were really serious about democracy, Karzai wouldnt have been the President in kabul.
Very true, there is always something fishy with Indian foreign policies in scope of this region and where ever they find Pakistan on the receiving end of their possible policy impact.
As for Afghanistan, it has been a war torn country with no future because it is controlled by warloads of drugs and weaponary; a poor common Afghan has no say in the government.
So every other country had interests using Afghanistan in international politics as a play ground. Because Pakistan has practically sacrificed for their independence, we are most involved/effected party and India is the least/unconcerned.
Not eleven, just five, in whole of afghanistan. And Pakistan also has the same number of consulates in Afghanistan
India’s intention is to have a stable Afghanistan. India don’t want another Kandahar kind of hijack or similar events. India is already spending many billions to defend itself from Extremists.
A few billion invested in afghanistan today will reap multifold benefits to india in future in form of Trade and preventing extremism.
A.B.saeed,Asalaam o alaikum dear brother,,I agree with you 100%,you have hit the nail on the head.Thanks
Dear Mr. Saeed,
Its Indian money and will be spent where ever it Guarantees good results.
If tomorrow, if Spending money in Pakistan would be beneficial for India, India would do it.
Jn
I think President Karzai did a wise thing to issue this statement to allay Pakistan’s apprehensions. Pakistan for once needs to come out of its conspiracy mindset because at the end of the day Afghanistan is a sovereign country.
“at the end of the day Afghanistan is a sovereign country”
Is it really? With more than 150,000 foreign troops on its soil? I guess it’s not the end of the day yet.