Deans wrote:chetak wrote:
we seem to have slightly different takes on the issue.
one however fears being sucked into the entire afghan mess with disastrous consequences for India.
It's best that we have no Indian boots on the ground in afghanistan because there will be an immediate BIF funded blowback on own internal security situation.
Also, we have limited access to afghanistan for logistics support while others including china, pakis and iran have an almost unrestricted access to that country and none of these guys can be trusted.
Chetak ji, I Don't think we really disagree. Putting boots in the ground in Afghanistan has the advantages that Cain Marko suggests in the next post.
However, I share your concerns. My point is that we have already built a dam in Afghanistan and are collaborating on others. Our support can be extended to helping Afghanistan negotiate an equitable treaty. If we send a security force, it is with the invitation of the Afghan govt and to protect THEIR infrastructure, not to bring democracy to it, nation building, or whatever it is the West does. With a Biden administration,
I don't think there would be a serious objection to our using Chabahar and the road and rail link we have built, to transport infrastructure & material etc to Afghanistan through Iran (along with logistical support for a small infra protection force). It can even get UN sanction.
Even a small force can cause serious discomfort in Pak and force them to reconsider where their military assets are deployed - particularly if for e.g we have an agreement for the IAF to maintain Afghan aircraft or deploy our own aircraft (purely for development work).
Deans saar,
my principal concern is that if and when push comes to shove, iran may not weigh in on our side, thus negating any advantages we may be wishfully perceiving in chabahar port, UN sanction to the contrary notwithstanding.
they seem to have cleverly used our impatience to access central asian countries to get themselves free infrastructure paid for and built by us and we have foolishly fallen for crap like "ancient civilizational ties" forgetting that they were once among the invaders of India and their sense of superiority has never really gone away from their cultural perception of India as a country of inferior peoples.
their attitude towards us has always been overbearing, with more than a hint of bullying.
at the end of the day, and with no qualms whatsoever, they have aligned themselves with sunni pakis and turkis to berate India on cashmere.
ummah is as ummah does.
also, not to mention, their hopes of getting any nuclear tech from India went up in smoke a long time ago, adding further to their anguish and general dissatisfaction with us.
iran's disdainful and constant taunts about India weakly succumbing to the US sanctions and not aiding them in breaking the oil embargo never did explain why India would/should poke the ameriki bear for a few barrels of waxy third grade iranian crude.
both countries, iran and turki are prostrating before the pakis and the hans hoping to be thrown some nuclear crumbs so these two paranoid countries can evolve into dominating regional monsters, each with their own grandiose visions of global ummah leadership