Indian Politics & Policy Volume 1, Number 2, Fall 2018 | Page 83

Indian Politics & Policy
Indian assistance was focused
on three major infrastructure projects:
(i) upgradation of the Zaranj–Delaram
highway of 218 kilometers; (ii) the Salma
Dam project in Herat province in
the west; (iii) the 220 kV double circuit
transmission line from Pul-e-Khomri
to Kabul, and the 220/110/20 kV substation
at Chimtala to bring power from
Uzbekistan to Kabul, all completed by
2010.
Apart from this, India undertook
to build the new Afghan parliament
building, contributed to the Afghan Reconstruction
Fund, and to a broad SDP
program, which paralleled similar SDP
programs that were in existence in Bhutan
and Nepal, including assistance in
the agriculture, education, healthcare,
and medical sciences areas.
In 2006–07, the security situation
worsened with increasing attacks by the
Taliban insurgents through most of the
country. Two Indians working in the
country were killed. MOUs in rural development
and education were signed,
and India participated in the November
2006 second Regional Economic
Cooperation Conference in Afghanistan
and the parallel Regional Business
Conference on Afghanistan hosted by
the Federation of Indian Chambers of
Commerce and Industry (FICCI), the
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII),
and the Associated Chambers of Commerce
and Industry (Assocham). Cumulative
Indian assistance rose to $750
m by 2006–07. The year saw new project
commitments like expansion of TV
coverage, and the training of Afghan
diplomats in the Foreign Service Training
Institute in Delhi. About a thousand
training slots were given to Afghans in
the ITEC program. India supported the
admission of Afghanistan to the South
Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
(SAARC) at the 14 th SAARC
summit in Delhi in April 2007 as its
eighth member.
India welcomed the Obama
speech of December 2009 on strengthening
the Afghan government and security
forces as preparation to the eventual
U.S. drawdown and pullout, and
participated in the UN International
Conference on Afghanistan in London
in January 2010. This was a prelude to
the stepping up of India’s security cooperation
with Afghanistan from the next
year. President Karzai’s visit in October
2011 resulted in an Agreement on Strategic
Partnership, the first such with any
country for Afghanistan. This included
political and security cooperation, and
an MOU on hydrocarbons and minerals.
An additional $500 m of assistance
was announced during the visit taking
the cumulative total assistance by then
to $2 bn.
India’s assistance strategy, to
some extent, mirrors its assistance experience
in countries like Bhutan and
Nepal in that it focused not just on a
few major high-profile projects but
on a range of widespread small projects
and capacity building by offering
scholarships to students and trainees,
and thereby building long-term human
contacts.
India’s assistance strategy in Afghanistan
is geared to supporting and
stabilizing the Afghan government in
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