India inks 10 MoUs with Afghanistan
Even as India was seemingly left out of the Afghanistan peace process, New Delhi has quietly gone ahead with its development partnership with Kabul, signing 10 MoUs to build roads, buildings, schools and marketplaces across 10 Afghan provinces.
"India & Afghanistan further expanded Development Partnership cooperation by signing 10 MoUs of people centric projects' implementation in 10 Afghan provinces. MoUs signed by Ambassador @vkumar1969, Economy Minister @mmmastoor & 10 line Ministers in presence of CEO Dr Abdullah Abdullah," the Indian embassy in Kabul tweeted. These projects are funded under the High Impact Community Development (HICDP) scheme implemented by India in Afghanistan.
"Since 2001, India has undertaken projects and programmes for over USD2 billion. In 2016, India pledged an additional USD1 billion over the next five years as part of its renewed commitment to assist Afghanistan emerge as a stable, secure, peaceful, united and prosperous and pluralistic nation," said a press statement from the embassy. Since 2005, India has committed over USD200 million to support over 550 projects throughout Afghanistan under the HICDP scheme. The projects for which MoUs were just signed are related to construction of buildings for market places, cultural halls, classrooms, jirga halls, administrative offices, laying of roads and water supply networks. The projects are to be implemented in the provinces of Daikundi, Panjshir, Ghazni, Uruzgan, Nangahar, Khost, Farah, Maidan Wardak, and Takhar. Meanwhile, the Pentagon, in a statement, confirmed that India has transferred eight Mi-35 attack helicopters to the Afghan Air Force. The report said the transfer "marks a significant departure from India's previous policy of providing only non-lethal military assistance. Pakistani sensitivities towards Indian involvement in the country ultimately limited the assistance.
"Additionally, the Indian military provides procurement and training support to help professionalize the Afghan military and to improve its vehicle maintenance capabilities," it added. The US Department of Defense report also said India has traditionally had strong ties with Afghanistan and remains the largest regional donor to the country (USD3 billion since 2001). It said: "In the event of a US drawdown in Afghanistan, India likely will attempt to continue its support to Afghanistan and try to limit Taliban, Pakistani, and Chinese influence. A significant deterioration of security conditions in Afghanistan, however, may adversely affect the ability of India to provide aid."