THE anticipation that the US was now considering favourably
Pakistan’s concerns about growing Indian influence in Afghanistan have proved a mirage as latest reports from Washington speak otherwise. A State Department official, speaking on India’s role in Afghanistan at the Hudson Institute, asserted that the US supported continued Indian involvement in Afghanistan claiming that they will continue to support efforts to achieve an honourable and enduring outcome in the country that preserves their investment in Afghanistan’s future.
Afghanistan has badly been ruined due to reckless bombing, which was likened to pushing the country back to Stone Age, as infrastructure of the country stands destroyed and economy shattered. It is, therefore, responsibility of the international community especially those who, in any way, contributed to this state of affairs, to bear the burden of reconstruction and development. However, Indian involvement in Afghanistan has objectives other than economic wellbeing of people of that country. As India has no shared border with Afghanistan, it is least bothered about sustainable peace there or prosperity of its people and is exploiting its presence there to advance its nefarious designs against regional countries especially Pakistan. Islamabad has presented dossiers to the United Nations and the United States about misuse of Afghan soil by India particularly sponsoring of terrorist activities in Balochistan and Karachi. It was in this backdrop that Pakistan objected to moves from Washington to assign strategic role to India in the post-withdrawal phase. People of Pakistan were given to understand that the re-engagement between Islamabad and Washington on the issue of Afghanistan also takes care of Pakistan’s concerns about Indian designs in Afghanistan. But these expectations are turning out to be lollipops and the latest remarks of the US official indicate Washington has not dropped the idea of assigning India greater role in Afghanistan. Pakistani policy-makers should, therefore, go deeper into the issue and review their strategy accordingly.
