ISLAMABAD: Former Afghanistan government had been a key strategic ally for India in South Asia and the Modi government has made major investments in the war-torn country over the past two decades.
The Taliban rule could disrupt India’s friendly ties with Afghanistan and subsequently its strategic investments in the war-torn country. India has invested more than $3 billion in Afghanistan. This includes investments in over 400 infrastructure projects across all provinces in the country.
Afghanistan is one of the few countries where India has delivered many functional projects, including the Afghan Parliament building. The cost of building it was estimated at $90 million.
Afghanistan also got duty-free access to the Indian market as part of the agreement. As of 2019-20, bilateral trade between India and Afghanistan was estimated to be over $1 billion.
Over the years, India has helped Afghanistan build key infrastructural projects such as roads, dams, electricity transmission lines, solar panels in remote areas, telecom networks and substations. This is besides the technical and technological support New Delhi has provided to Afghanistan as part of capacity building for infrastructure and institutional projects.
India had even announced 100 community development projects worth $80 million in Afghanistan as early as last year. An agreement for the construction of the Shatoot Dam in Kabul district — a project that aimed to provide drinking water to roughly 2 million residents — was also signed more recently.
The future of these projects looks uncertain with the Taliban taking control of Afghanistan. India has not had a working relationship with the Taliban in the past.
One of the key India-funded projects in Afghanistan is the 42MW Salma Dam or the Afghan-India Friendship Dam project in Herat province. It is a hydropower and irrigation project that was completed and launched in 2016.
The Zaranj-Delaram highway, a 218km path built by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) also counts as a flagship Indian project in Afghanistan. The cost of building the highway near the Afghanistan-Iran border is estimated to be $150 million. The highway provides access to Iran’s key Chabahar port and is strategically important to New Delhi.
The restoration and inauguration of the Star Palace in 2016, originally built in the late 19th century, is another crucial project undertaken by India in Afghanistan.
India also helped Afghanistan rebuild power infrastructure including the 220KV DC-transmission line from Pul-e-Khumri, capital of Baghlan province to the north of Kabul, for increasing power supply capacity. Telecommunications infrastructure in many Afghan provinces has also been restored by Indian contractors and workers.
Numerous health clinics have been built in border provinces of Afghanistan by India including Badakhshan, Balkh, Kandahar, Khost, Kunar, Nangarhar, Nimruz, Nooristan, Paktia and Paktika. India has also helped in the reconstruction of many hospitals in Afghanistan besides providing ambulances and building Sulabh toilets in Kabul.
India has also gave Afghanistan 400 buses and 200 mini-buses for bolstering urban transportation. This is in addition to 105 utility vehicles of municipal operations and 285 military vehicles for the Afghan army. India has also provided military helicopters and other aircraft to the country.
Most of these assets have been captured by the Taliban, which regained control over Afghanistan 20 years after it was forced to flee by the US-led forces. For India, however, the possibility of losing a key strategic ally in South Asia may surpass the concerns related to its $3 billion investment in Afghanistan.