AFGHANISTAN HAD chosen India over Pakistan for a strategic partnership because of the strength of the Indian economy and freedom of its people, Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan’s president, said yesterday.
In an address in India’s capital, Mr Karzai said that although Pakistan was like a “twin brother” to Afghanistan, 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 a place of shared Islamic bonds but also as strategic territory in which to retreat in a conflict with India.
Pakistan deeply fears being encircled by its arch-rival India, and is accused by New Delhi 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, an analyst at US-based IHS Global Insight.
“It will boost the arguments of Pakistani hardliners who view Karzai as a pawn of India whom 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 Afghan natural resources to Indian companies.
A senior Indian diplomat said the agreement formalised what was already taking place between the two countries. It 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. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011