Integrity Score 380
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External Actors in the Afghan Problem
continues...
India
For most of their independent history, both nations have enjoyed traditionally friendly relations. India and Afghanistan have also maintained significant cultural and economic links. India was never involved militarily in Afghanistan. Films and music of India are widely popular in Afghanistan and Afghan products such as carpets, nuts and fruits are exported to India.
India was the only South Asian nation to recognise the Soviet-backed Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and the Soviet Union’s military presence in Afghanistan, and provided humanitarian aid to the country. Following the withdrawal of the Soviet armed forces from Afghanistan in 1989, India and the international community supported the coalition government that took control, but relations and contacts ended with the outbreak of another civil war, which brought to power the Taleban, considered to be an Islamist militia supported by Pakistan.
The Taliban regime which was recognised only by Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) led to the rise of Islamism in Afghanistan and the proliferation of terrorists in the militancy in Indian-administered Kashmir turned the Taleban and Afghanistan into a security threat for India. The destruction of the Bamiyan Buddha monuments by the Taleban led to outrage and angry protests by India, the birthplace of Buddhism. In 1999, the Indian Airlines Flight 814 hijacked by Muslim militants landed and stayed in Kandahar in Afghanistan and the Taliban and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) were suspected of supporting them. India had become one of the key supporters of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance. India has welcomed the emergence of post-9/11 Afghanistan and appreciates the effort of the international community in helping Afghanistan build itself into a progressive country. Currently, India is the largest regional donor to Afghanistan reconstruction process as “India has strong stakes in Afghanistan’s security, independence and stability
To be continued...