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India courts Tajikistan to swing Afghan
endgame
Friday August 31, 2012 12:30:04 PM,
Manish Chand, IANS
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New Delhi: Signalling
an upswing in its "Connect Central Asia policy", India is gearing
up to roll out the red carpet for longtime Tajik leader Emomalii
Rahmon Monday -- an important visit from a country which is
critical to Afghanistan's stability and host to the only military
facility New Delhi has overseas.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will hold wide-ranging talks with
Tajikistan President Rahmon, who has helmed the energy-rich
strategically located nation for the last two decades, to deepen
bilateral economic and strategic ties.
At the end of the talks, India will unveil a substantial
development assistance package for the Central Asian country,
official sources told IANS.
There will also be discussions on Indian assistance for upgrading
the Ayni base and setting up a military hospital in Tajikistan,
said the sources. India has its only overseas military base in
Tajikistan, which is operated by the Indian Air Force in
collaboration with the Tajikistan Air Force.
The visit coincides with the 20th anniversary of the establishment
of diplomatic ties between India and Tajikistan.
On top of the agenda will be the ongoing flux in Afghanistan,
where the hardline Taliban militia is eyeing the exit of the
international combat troops in 2014 to recapture the country they
ruled for five years till the ouster of the Mullah Omar regime in
2001.
India and Tajikistan had partnered in the Northern Alliance that
played a pivotal role in forcing the Taliban regime out and are
set to intensify their collaboration to prevent the Islamist
zealots from capturing Kabul.
In fact, Tajikistan, which shares over 1,400 km border with
Afghanistan, faces threat from Taliban-linked terror groups like
Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and is already reeling from the
spillover effects as thousands of Afghans have taken shelter in
the country.
Tajikistan's importance to the shifting Afghan calculus is evident
from the way Pakistan is courting the Central Asian country.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari met the Tajik president in
Tehran on the sidelines of the NAM summit Thursday and invited him
for the fourth quadrilateral summit on Afghanistan in Islamabad
Sep 26-27, to which the presidents of Russia and Afghanistan have
already been invited.
Against this backdrop, India and Tajikistan will be looking to
expand their counter-terror cooperation and intensify
consultations on the evolving situation in Afghanistan.
India has taken positive note of the secularization policy by the
Tajik president. In a bid to shield his country from the malignant
spread of extremism, Rahmon has banned religious instruction in
schools.
Connectivity will be another key issue in discussions as both
sides look to expand the number of flights between New Delhi and
the Tajik capital Dushanbe.
India plans to operate up to 14 flights to Dushanbe. Tajikistan,
on its part, will begin four flights.
In June this year, India unveiled its Connect Central Asia policy
which entails a proactive multi-pronged diplomatic thrust by India
to accelerate ties with the energy-rich Central Asian nations,
including Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
With its core strengths in capacity building, IT and human
resource development, India is uniquely poised to transform the
resource-rich strategically-located region that suffers from a
massive infrastructure deficit.
India has a long way to go to catch up with other major powers in
the region, with its bilateral trade less than $1 billion compared
to China's $29 billion and the US's $26 billion, respectively.
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