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  • NATO wants Indian troops to operate in Afghanistan

    NATO wants Indian troops to operate in Afghanistan
    Daily News & Updates
    Dated 23/9/2006


    According to newspaper reports, NATO - the US led western military alliance, wants Indian troops for its missions in volatile regions like Afghanistan and Kosovo. NATO officials here at Brussels, its headquarters, said Indian troops would be part of a wider engagement the alliance envisages with non-member states.

    The alliance does not expect Indian troops for its missions overnight but as a consequence of a protracted engagement that will drive policy change in New Delhi and reforms within NATO. Beginnings have been made at two levels. NATO headquarters has briefed Indian diplomats here. Its secretary-general Jaap de Hoop Schaffer has met defence minister Pranab Mukherjee.

    Pakistan's support in the U.S. lead War Against Terror (WoT) however has been conditional. General Musharraf's Regime seemed to have made it clear that an Indian presence in Afghanistan would have to be avoided.

    General Musharraf however comes under increasing pressure for not doing enough against the Taliban and Al Qaeda based in Pakistan. North Afghan leaders and on the ground U.S. and NATO officers based sections of the Pakistani establishment for aiding the anti-government insurgency in Afghanistan.

    Five years on both the Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and the Taliban head Mullah Omar roam free, apparently within Pakistan's tribal regions in the west along the border with Afghanistan.

    http://www.india-defence.com/reports/2532

  • #2
    Ethnic Pashtuns protest against Pakistan's support for Taliban

    Ethnic Pashtuns protest against Pakistan's support for Taliban
    Daily News & Updates
    Dated 7/11/2006
    Printer Friendly Subscribe

    Several thousand ethnic Pashtuns rallied in a Pakistani town near the Afghan border on Tuesday, accusing Pakistan of meddling in Afghanistan's affairs.

    The protesters, Pakistani Pashtuns and some Afghan Pashtun refugees, accused Pakistan of providing sanctuary to Taliban militants, who have this year unleashed the most intense violence in Afghanistan since their 2001 ousting from power.

    "We demand the government of Pakistan stops playing its game in Afghanistan," Hamid Khan Achakzai, a leader of a Pakistani Pashtun nationalist party and a former member of parliament, told the rally in the southwestern town of Chaman.

    "This duplicitous policy poses serious danger to the entire world," Achakzai said.

    Pashtuns live on both sides of the rugged Afghan-Pakistani border.

    Afghan complaints that Taliban insurgents are operating from safe havens on the Pakistani side have seriously strained relations between the neighbours this year.

    Pakistan nurtured the Taliban after they emerged from Pashtun tribal lands along the border in the early 1990s, but officially ended support after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

    PAKISTAN DENIALS

    A major ally in the U.S.-led war on terror, Pakistan denies helping the Taliban but says some militants are able to cross the porous frontier.

    Protesters at the rally in Chaman shouted "Down with terrorism in Afghanistan" and "Down with the policy of interference in Afghanistan".

    Afghan President Hamid Karzai last month asked two ethnic Pashtun Pakistani politicians, including the head of an Islamist group, for help to stem the Taliban insurgency.

    Pakistan accuses its old rival India, which has close relations with Karzai, of stirring ethnic unrest in Pakistani areas on the Afghan border.

    The border areas have traditionally been strongholds of conservative Islamist groups but Pashtun nationalist parties, which want the merger of Pashtun areas on both sides of the frontier, also have support.

    Pakistani forces have been battling Islamist militants in Pashtun tribal areas on its side of the border over the last few years and hundreds of people have been killed.

    In the latest violence, militants fired at least six rockets at a paramilitary base in the town of Wana, in the South Waziristan region, to the north of Chaman, but there were no reports of casualties, a security official said.

    Two rockets landed near the base when the governor of North West Frontier Province, Ali Mohammad Jan Orakzai, was meeting tribal elders there.

    http://www.india-defence.com/reports/2652

    It seems the claims of pakistani people that pashtuns support pakistan is slowly being proved false. Just guess what else they are lying about.??

    cheers

    Comment


    • #3
      The Indian Army does not have a magic wand to fight insurgency, just a lot of practice in knowing the ways of the jihadi scum.

      If the Indian Army goes to Afghanistan, it will not be because NATO/ US wants it there, but also when it gets a formal request from the Govt of Afghanistan.

      Cheers!...on the rocks!!

      Comment


      • #4
        Captain,

        You and I both know if Dehli decides tomorrow that it would offer troops, within 24 hours, you will have a Canadian Forces Airbus on the tarmac and BGen Grant delivering a personal invitation from Karzai himself.

        Comment


        • #5
          Well I support this , India should send its troops against Taliban in Afghanistan because India itself has been experiencing terrorism for so long and if US leave afghanistan before destroying taliban then this will ultimately be VERY VERY BAD for India first and then west. Those talibanis's will be used against india by pakistan and afghanistan will again fall to taliban creating problem in whole region except pakistan.

          Those taliban's were responsible for IC-814 Aircraft hijacking but Indian government is impotent enough not to take action againt this ,sending troops to afghanistan is more good for india than USA.

          Moreover an Air base in tajikistan and troops above their head, pakistan will; surely be pissed off

          Comment


          • #6
            there should be a poll on this.... I think Indian troops should be heavily deployed in Afghanistan to hunt out those terrorist scum.... btw, doesn't India already have around 300 ITBP troops there???
            Cow is the only animal that not only inhales oxygen, but also exhales it.
            -Rekha Arya, Former Minister of Animal Husbandry

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Officer of Engineers View Post
              Captain,

              You and I both know if Dehli decides tomorrow that it would offer troops, within 24 hours, you will have a Canadian Forces Airbus on the tarmac and BGen Grant delivering a personal invitation from Karzai himself.
              Absolutly sir. What I mean't to imply was that Karzai's invite is of paramount importance to placate the muslim population in India, to show that we are invited by the Afghanis and not going in NATO's request.

              You know that we have been waiting to get a crack at them since 2001.

              Cheers!...on the rocks!!

              Comment


              • #8
                Colonel,

                Apart from the point that IIRC that India had offered troop at the beginning of the show, but it was rejected politely since Pakistan was not to be offended, this may interest you.

                Will India allow stationing of troops?

                By Sridhar Krishnaswami

                WASHINGTON, SEPT. 17. India has told the United States that if asked it would allow the stationing of American troops and equipment on a temporary basis, The Washington Post said, going on to make the point that a formal request from Washington to New Delhi has not been received.

                Nevertheless, it is seen politically as a major and significant development in that it would be the first time in India's history that foreign troops will be on its soil. And in a strategic sense, administration officials and analysts are saying that New Delhi's offer provided U.S. commanders with a nearby backup in case Pakistan baulks at the idea of American combat units coming in.

                ``We have given unconditional and unambivalent support for any action the United States may take to deal with the problem of global terrorism,'' an Indian official has been quoted in The Post report, datelined New Delhi.

                What is being pointed out is that facilities in India could be used to house fighter planes as also to refuel long-range bombers; and the thinking is that the Indian intelligence network, given their long history of tracking extremist groups could provide vital information to the United States.

                Also stressed is the fact that the Indian offer of cooperation with the United States in the latter's global war on terrorism is without conditions or attachments.

                That is, Pakistan has told the United States that a multinational force on the ground in Pakistan should come from Islamic nations; India has not placed any such conditions.

                Analysts are pointing to some of the strategic and operational limitations in India's offer, the main being that in the absence of a shared border with Afghanistan, the U.S. would still have to ferry troops and equipment to Pakistan for any conflict in Afghanistan.

                But politically, the Indian offer could be used as a leverage to extract more from Islamabad as well.

                In fact, there has been the argument that when it comes to the role of Pakistan, much would depend on what it is that the U.S. has planned. In the absence of this, much writing would only remain in the realm of speculation. For instance, if the Bush administration is going to place a major premium on a long-term strategy of tracking, hunting and liquidating terrorists, then Islamabad's contribution could be on the intelligence front with the ISI playing a big role.

                Senior administration officials are being quite guarded in their statements about what Washington is planning, both in terms of the short term and the longer term. But if there is one thing the Republican administration is not doing, it is alienating any nation as it goes about this business of building an anti- terrorism coalition, even in any indirect fashion.

                The Secretary of State, Gen. Colin Powell, on Sunday was asked if he was ``one hundred per cent comfortable'' with Pakistan being in the U.S. camp in this war against terrorism. To which Gen. Powell remarked,``...yes,I trust them.

                They have been very forthcoming. We should compliment them on their forthcomingness rather than speculating about their sincerity.''

                * * *

                'No request from U.S.'

                MOSCOW, SEPT. 17. India today said the United States had not yet sought New Delhi's permission for using its territory for carrying out strikes against Afghanistan.

                The visiting National Security Adviser, Mr. Brajesh Mishra, told Russian reporters here India had not received any formal proposal from the U.S. for possible deployment of American troops on Indian bases, the State-run Ria-Novosti agency said.

                - PTI
                The Hindu : Will India allow stationing of troops?


                "Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

                I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

                HAKUNA MATATA

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by lemontree View Post
                  Absolutly sir. What I mean't to imply was that Karzai's invite is of paramount importance to placate the muslim population in India, to show that we are invited by the Afghanis and not going in NATO's request.

                  You know that we have been waiting to get a crack at them since 2001.
                  Muslim community considers Karzai as a American stooge, his invitation wont be of much use.
                  What's the difference between people who pray in church and those who pray in casinos?
                  The ones in the casinos are serious.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Officer of Engineers View Post
                    Captain,

                    You and I both know if Dehli decides tomorrow that it would offer troops, within 24 hours, you will have a Canadian Forces Airbus on the tarmac and BGen Grant delivering a personal invitation from Karzai himself.
                    Sir,

                    Didn't we initially offer troops just to be politely refused (to appease Pakistan)? So, the case is weak this time.

                    Will our troops be put under NATO's command? I don't think India's domestic politics and public sentiment will permit that.

                    A better idea will be to reinforce the IndoTibetan Border Police (ITBP) contingent.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Gentlemen,

                      There are several points here. Allow me to address them individually.

                      Brigadier Sir,

                      I do not know the situation of the initial Indian offer but the ISAF was an initially an all European affair and in fact proceeded to insult the Canadians. The ISAF had initially asked for 300 Canadian combat engineers. CDS General Baril responded the ISAF take a Canadian battle group or they take nothing. The end result was that the Americans snap up 3 PPCLI Battle Group before the ISAF changed its mind.

                      I would be real curious as to what India offerred. A brigade? Division? Corps?

                      Garuda,

                      Indian troops will be placed under the strategic command of CENTCOM. Operational command would be runned out of its own AO.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        It'd be great, I think. Plus, then they could have Musharaf cornered in and by the balls!
                        In Iran people belive pepsi stands for pay each penny save israel. -urmomma158
                        The Russian Navy is still a threat, but only to those unlucky enough to be Russian sailors.-highsea

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          What kind of force composition is requested?

                          I guess a Mech. Inf. battalion, augemented by a SF company, two flights each of a medium lift Mi17 HU and a Mi35 HU will be a nice begining.

                          The IAF station at Farkhor, Tajikistan was supposed to house a Mig-29 squadron. If that is functional then the IAF chaps too will get some chance to do some recce over Pakistani badlands.
                          Last edited by Garuda; 18 Jan 07,, 09:50.

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                          • #14
                            more coffins will come back to india if india ever places its troops in afganistan .....there are immense pockets within indian boundary( porus bangaldeshi boders) ,let us tackle those first

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by veera8 View Post
                              more coffins will come back to india if india ever places its troops in afganistan .....there are immense pockets within indian boundary( porus bangaldeshi boders) ,let us tackle those first
                              "More" is a relative term. Indian Army has been reaping body bags at an uniform rate from Kashmir and North East.

                              Why do people talk of body bag excuse in case of Iraq or Afghanistan? What about our numerous UN operations?

                              Somehow, shovelling someone else's crap under UN flag is acceptable to most people, instead of securing our own geopolitical interests.

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