New Delhi: In a major shift, India is seriously considering making the transition from being just a development assistance provider to a security provider as well to Afghanistan, as the two countries lashed out at state-sponsored terror in a joint statement that did not name Pakistan but left no one in doubt that Islamabad was the culprit.
India has also decided to allocate $1 billion in development assistance to Afghanistan. Sources said that during talks between visiting Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and PM Narendra Modi on Wednesday in New Delhi, India agreed to consider the supply of some of the military gear on the Afghan wishlist.
The two countries signed three pacts — a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, an extradition treaty and an agreement on uses of outer space.
Kabul ready to buy Indian arms
Officially, however, India is silent on the matter, with the only indication being foreign secretary S. Jaishankar’s comment on Wednesday evening that one can “join the dots” on India’s willingness to consider further capacity-building and capability-building for Afghanistan and the resolve of both nations to strengthen defence cooperation.
India has so far supplied only four Russian-origin Mi-25 military helicopters to Afghanistan. Kabul is said to be interested in acquiring military equipment, including artillery, and Russian-origin ammunition and spares from India.
The two countries signed three pacts - a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, an extradition treaty and an agreement on the peaceful uses of outer space. With Pakistan refusing to so far allow the movement of 1.7 lakh tonnes of Indian wheat through its territory to Afghanistan, in spite of a request by New Delhi several months ago, India and Afghanistan discussed the transit issue in a major way at their talks.
More important, the joint statement stated: “The two leaders discussed the regional situation and expressed grave concern at the continued use of terrorism and violence in the region for achieving political objectives.”
