Afghanistan Signs Alliance With India

[jimmy olsen]

Hah! Take that Pakistan! Maybe if you weren't such dicks this wouldn't have happened. 

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/9aff111e-ef64-11e0-bc88-00144feab49a.html#axzz1ZxJ4c096

October 5, 2011 5:09 pm
Karzai picks partnership with India over Pakistan

By James Lamont in New Delhi

Afghanistan had chosen India over Pakistan for a strategic partnership to help rebuild a shattered peace because of the strength of the Indian economy and freedom of its people, Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's president, said on Wednesday.

In an address in the Indian capital, Mr Karzai said that although Pakistan was like a "twin brother" to Afghanistan, sharing religion and ethnicity, his country had turned to India to deepen economic engagement and security ties, because India was "strong" and had a fast growing economy.

"This strategic partnership is not directed against any country. This is for Afghanistan to benefit from the strengths of India. India has the strength to help us," Mr Karzai said.

The agreement will antagonise and isolate Pakistan, which views Afghanistan not only as sharing Islamic bonds but also as strategic territory to retreat into in a conflict with India.

Pakistan deeply fears being encircled by its arch-rival India, and is accused by India and some Nato commanders of using proxy militant groups to maintain influence in Afghanistan.

"The deal jeopardises the recent thaw in Indo-Pakistani relations and further solidifies Pakistan's view of Afghanistan as a staging post for Indian intelligence operations," said James Brazier, analyst at US-based IHS Global Insight.

"It will boost the arguments of Pakistani hardliners who view Karzai as a pawn of India who Pakistan should try to topple by any means necessary."

The agreement signed between Mr Karzai and Manmohan Singh, India's prime minister, provides a framework for the training of the Afghan army and police by Indian forces. It also opens the development of Afghanistan's mineral wealth and oil and gas resources to Indian companies.

A senior Indian diplomat said the agreement formalised what was already taking place between the two countries, and "filled in some gaps" to fortify ties beyond 2014 and the withdrawal of US troops in Afghanistan.

The pact comes days after Mr Karzai broke off talks with Taliban militants after his chief peace negotiator and former president, Burhanuddin Rabbani, was killed by a suicide bomber posing as a Taliban peace envoy.

In a sign of the fragile security situation, Afghanistan's intelligence agency said on Wednesday it had thwarted a plot to assassinate Mr Karzai in the capital, Kabul, after arresting a bodyguard and five people with links to the Haqqani network and al-Qaeda.

The agreement with India is the first of its kind that the Kabul government has struck with a foreign power. Other strategic partnerships are planned with the US and European Union, Mr Karzai said.

The Afghan president highlighted the weakening of Pakistan as a regional partner saying that the nuclear-armed neighbour was under far greater threat from terror than his own war-weary country.

He urged more direct engagement with Islamabad to prevent violence destabilising the region and spilling into conflicts over water and natural resources.

"The international community and Nato have failed to bring peace and stability to the country," Mr Karzai acknowledged. "[But] Pakistan suffers more today than we do in Afghanistan, much more."

Some are wary of Afghanistan leaning more heavily on India after the US retreats.

A veteran broadcaster said: "First the British were in Afghanistan, then the Russians and the Americans, and it looks like India is following suit."

Additional reporting by Reuters

[Ideologue]

I hope Pakistan tries a Schlieffen Plan.

[sbr]

I hope Pakistan tries a Schlieffen Plan.

The right wing would fall apart before they hit the Volga.

[HisMajestyBOB]

Hah! Take that Pakistan! Maybe if you weren't such dicks this wouldn't have happened. 

They don't understand that supporting terrorists in your neighbors makes them hate you.

[KRonn]

This is..."interesting". I wouldn't have thought this, given how tied Afghanistan is to Pakistan, for better or for worse. Often for the worse.

[HVC]

This is going to end up biting India innthe ass.

[Razgovory]

I hope Pakistan tries a Schlieffen Plan.

The right wing would fall apart before they hit the Volga.

The road to New Delhi lies through Belgium.

[Razgovory]

This is..."interesting". I wouldn't have thought this, given how tied Afghanistan is to Pakistan, for better or for worse. Often for the worse.

I suspect the US forced this to send a signal to Pakistan.

[HisMajestyBOB]

This is..."interesting". I wouldn't have thought this, given how tied Afghanistan is to Pakistan, for better or for worse. Often for the worse.

I suspect the US forced this to send a signal to Pakistan.

Or maybe it was the reported plan for an assassination of Karzai by the Haqqani guys, the ones supported by Pakistan. Probably a combination.

[Razgovory]

Karazi is so stoned he doesn't know what planet he's on.

[KRonn]

This is..."interesting". I wouldn't have thought this, given how tied Afghanistan is to Pakistan, for better or for worse. Often for the worse.

I suspect the US forced this to send a signal to Pakistan.

Yeah, I do wonder how much, if any, influence the US had in this.