India says it has long-term stakes in Afghanistan

By Atul Aneja

NEW DELHI, OCT. 11. India today announced it had a long-term political stake in Afghanistan, even as it ruled out ``hot pursuit'' against terrorists who had infiltrated Jammu and Kashmir.

Addressing a press conference, the External Affairs Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh, said he did not visualise a possibility of launching ``hot pursuits'' against extremists, despite the recent provocations such as the October 1 suicide attack on the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.

Government sources said Mr. Singh was attempting to defuse anxiety in some foreign capitals that India might not exercise restraint vis-a-vis Pakistan after the suicide attack on the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly. Even the Russian President, Mr. Vladimir Putin, during his telephone conversation with the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, on Monday, discussed India- Pakistan relations in the backdrop of the Assembly attack.

India was ready for a discussion on Jammu and Kashmir with the U.S. Secretary of State, Gen. Colin Powell, when he visits New Delhi shortly, Mr. Singh said. India is likely to impress upon Gen. Powell that while it exercised restraint, it would expect Islamabad to rein in terrorism in Kashmir. Besides, India would want Pakistan shed its fixation on Kashmir and accept a broad- based dialogue with New Delhi.

Mr. Singh, citing his preoccupation at home, said his visit to Islamabad was not on the cards. Besides, Pakistan had not yet formally invited him.

Declaring that it is a player in the post-Taliban political settlement of Afghanistan, Mr. Singh indicated New Delhi might not be inclined to accept the imposition of the former King, Zahir Shah, as the country's leader. The transition from the existing theocracy to democratic rule in Afghanistan ``rather than personality-based should be process-based'', he said.

Flagging off its interest in Afghanistan, India is sending one million tonnes of wheat, tents, blankets and quilts and expanding its medical services for its northern neighbour. India, the minister said, would continue to remain involved in Afghanistan's future development, including the rehabilitation of its war-torn infrastructure.

India has big security stakes in Afghanistan. Pakistan, according to sources, has shifted some of the Kashmiri training camps on its soil to Afghanistan. Not surprisingly, Mr. Singh pointed out that the destruction of training camps in Afghanistan benefited India directly.

India's interests in a post-Taliban settlement of Afghanistan would be better served by a rapid advance by the Northern Alliance on the ground, the sources said. In case the Northern Alliance, which India along with Russia and Iran supports, recaptures larger portion of territory, it would improve its position in negotiating a power-sharing deal with the Afghan opposition later.

But, the Northern Alliance's advance seems to have been retarded as U.S. planes have so far not targeted Taliban's heavy weaponry, including tanks and artillery. ``The U.S. strikes have not hit forward positions but targeted reserves in the rear'', Mr. Singh said.

According to analysts, the U.S. may not yet be prepared to see a Northern Alliance rapidly advancing towards Afghanistan's strategic hubs of Mazar-e-Sharief in the north, Herat in the west and Kabul in the centre. Washington, on the contrary, may want to accommodate the Taliban, without its extremist elements, in a future political arrangement in Afghanistan. But this is not possible unless the Northern Alliance's advance on the ground is slowed down and controlled. A Northern Alliance sweep over the country, on the contrary, may not suit the U.S. as it could hamper the formation of broad-based and a regionally acceptable government in that country.

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Section  : National
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