India is Afghanistan’s most reliable partner: Pentagon

New Delhi: A report by the US department of defence has paid glowing tribute to India’s role in insurgency-plagued Afghanistan.

“India is Afghanistan’s most reliable regional partner and the largest contributor of development assistance in the region… India is providing significant training opportunities for Afghan officers and enlisted personnel… India has also donated limited security assistance, most notably four Mi-35 aircraft,” said the Pentagon report titled Enhancing Security and Stability in Afghanistan.

The 102-page report was submitted by the US department of defence to the Congress on Tuesday and covered the period from December 1, 2016, to May 31, 2017.

Besides helping Afghanistan build the Afghanistan-India Friendship Dam and the Afghan Parliament building, India has also donated four Mi-35 helicopters to Afghanistan’s fledgling Air Force in addition to the three Cheetah helicopters given to Afghanistan in the first half of 2015. About 130 Afghans travel to India each year to attend various military academy and commissioning programmes.

In an earlier interview to this newspaper, Afghan Ambassador in New Delhi Shaida Mohammad Abdali had requested India for more Indian military helicopters, tanks and heavy guns to fight terror elements and insurgency in Afghanistan. “Afghanistan is just the staging ground for Daesh for the entire region to become unstable. Daesh in Afghanistan is not just for Afghanistan but it is a phenomena that will destablise the entire South Asia region”, Abdali said.

In May 2016, India, Iran, and Afghanistan signed the Chabahar Port agreement opening a trade route into Central Asia and Europe and allowing for the bypass of Pakistan.

Pakistan, the report says, is the most influential external actor affecting Afghan stability. “Pakistan views the outcome of Afghanistan to be in its vital national interest and thus remains driven by its India-centric regional policy objectives,” it adds.

The border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan continue to function as sanctuaries for various terrorist groups, including al Qaeda, al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), the Haqqani Network, Lashkar-eTayyiba, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), ISIS-K, and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. On these, many like the Taliban and Haqqani Network benefit from support from elements of the Pakistani Government.

“The United States continues to convey to Pakistan at all levels the importance of taking action against all terrorist and extremist groups… The trust deficit resulting from Pakistan’s support of and inaction against Afghan-oriented extremists hampers the bilateral military collaboration required to achieve enduring security”, the report says.

 Presently, about 8,400 US troops are operating from bases in Kabul and Bagram and in regional outstations in Jalalabad, Nangarhar, Kandahar, Herat, and Balkh. The US efforts are focused on defeating al Qaeda and its associates, defeating ISIS-K, protecting US forces, and preventing Afghanistan from becoming a safe-haven for terrorists to plan attacks against the US homeland, US interests overseas, and allies and partners.

As of April 2017, military personnel from 39 nations, including 26 NATO allies, are serving in Afghanistan.