India can use its UNSC presidency to revitalise it’s old now forgotten ancient connections with Afghanistan
@the_news_21
Mumbai: For some analysts the fall of Kabul and Afghanistan to the Taliban over the weekend has put India into a very diplomatically precarious and awkward position, save the huge investments it made in that country over the last two decades. But for the diplomatically astute, India getting the presidency for a month of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) just a fortnight ago on August 1 presents itself an opportunity to set the agenda of the United Nations Organisation (UN) and the UNSC over the Afghan issue.
It is little wonder then that policy makers and analysts in Pakistan and at Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) are a worried lot, not just over the $3 billion investment in 400 plus infrastructure projects spread over in 34 provinces of Afghanistan. Those at the IPRI do acknowledge the more than 2,000-year-old ancient connection that India has had with Afghanistan.
The myth and misconception, or misinformation that was being peddled in the international community so far was that Afghanistan was an alien land removed far away from India, with a buffer of Pakistan in between.
It is not so.
In the epic Mahabharata, the land was then known as Gandhara or Gandhar, the word later metamorphosed itself to modern day Kandahar. In Mahabharata times the land was known for its cunning Shakuni Mama and Gandhar princess Gandhari who was married to the blind King of Hastinapur, Dhritarashtra, and later became mother of the Kauravas and a daughter.
Thereafter, the region came under the rule of Chandragupta Maurya (321-297 BCE), Ashoka the Great (c 265-238 BCE), King Kanishka (Kushan dynasty – c 127 – 150 CE). The last of the kings Raja Jaya Pal was defeated by the invading Mughals in 980 CE.
But the credit of taming the intemperate, nomadic tribes of Afghanistan goes to Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1799-1839) who along with his trusted general Hari Singh Nalwa defeated the Afghan tribesmen in the battle of Khyber Pass in 1823.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh conquered the Jamrud fort that sits at the entrance of the Khyber Pass. Later, on April 28, 1758, the Marathas captured the Attock fort near Peshawar on the Grand Trunk Road (now Sher Shah Suri Road) that once linked Afghanistan-Pakistan and India together.
Afghanistan later got separated from India in 1876 by the British who could never reign in the Afghan tribes and granted them freedom on August 19, 1919.
Afghanistan since times immemorial, especially the Khyber Pass, remained the only land gateway to India.
Thereafter, the land was ruled by Darius the Great, Alexander the Great, Menander, Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, Timur, Mahmud of Ghazni, Mahmud of Ghori, Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Nadir Shah. It is also interesting to note that those who came to Afghanistan rarely managed to hold on to their victories or keep the land under their possession for long.
Before abdicating power in 2001, the Taliban had destroyed the world heritage site of the Bamiyan Buddha’s. The country still has several temples of Hindu temples in Afghanistan. As the Taliban was swiftly moving towards capturing Kabul, Pandit Rajesh Kumar, the priest of Rattan Nath Temple in Kabul, declined to flee Kabul to save his life.
India not only has a deep, long investment in the history of Afghanistan, but also since 2011 has invested heavily in infrastructure development which is mainly in construction of vital road links, dams, electricity transmission lines, power sub-stations, schools and hospitals. The 2011 India-Afghanistan Strategic Partnership Agreement was designed to rebuild the infrastructure.
Some of the major infrastructure projects being carried out by India in Afghanistan include – the 42MW hydro-electric plant also known as the Afghan-India Friendship Dam, the Shatoot Dam in Kabul district, the $150 million Zaranj-Delaram Highway being built by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO). The highway links Zahedan in Iran and further links landlocked Afghanistan with the Chabahar port in Iran.
India helped built the Afghanistan Parliament building in 2015 at a cost of $90 million. The historic and heritage site of the late 19th century Stor Palace that was the setting for the 1919 Rawalpindi declaration which led to the Independence of Afghanistan was restored in 2016. India has further pledged $1 million for another Aga Khan heritage project, the restoration of the 6th century Bala Hissar fort, south of Kabul.
Besides these, India has been upgrading the 220 KV DC power transmission line from Pul-e-Khumri in Baghlan province to the capital city of Kabul. The Indira Gandhi Institute for Child Health has been rebuilt. Apart from that, hospitals and clinics in regions like Badakhshan, Kandahar, Khost, Paktika and other regions have been built by India.
In terms of building the transportation system, India has gifted 400 buses, 200 mini-buses for urban transport, 105 utility vehicles for municipalities, 285 military vehicles for the Afghan National Army and ambulances to public hospitals. Air India had even given three of its aircrafts to Afghan national carrier Ariana when it was restarting its operations.
In 2019-20, bilateral trade crossed $1.3 billion. Exports from India are worth approximately $900 million, while Afghanistan’s exports to India are about $500 million.
During the last decade or so, India while executing these Infrastructure projects must have developed contacts with the Haqqani network in Afghanistan. It is no wonder that Pakistan and China are alarmed, concerned with India’s soft, infrastructure driven diplomacy.
Although the presidency of the UNSC is for a month, the emerging situation in Afghanistan calls for urgent discussion. Besides Afghanistan, India’s imperatives at the UNSC would also include the situation in Syria, Somalia and the Middle East.
What India can do is to bring the issue of the volatile situation in Afghanistan for an urgent discussion before the UNSC. Given the current mood in the global community and at the UN, giving bilateral recognition to the Taliban appears to be out of question. It would be interesting to see how the UNSC deals with the situation, especially the humanitarian refugee crisis and human rights abuses in Afghanistan.
In the UNSC, the Council President has a broad range of procedural powers. As per the practices and procedures laid down, the Council President can call and preside over meetings, approve the provisional agenda, issue presidential statements and sign the record of the council meetings.
The next term of presidency for India which is by alphabetical rotation amongst the 15 UNSC members is in December 2022. It is here that the move to turn down the offers of the permanent membership of the UNSC by the US and former Soviet Union in 1950 and 1955 on grounds of international morality seem to haunt India as it tries to grapple diplomatically with Pakistan and China.
