India faces Afghan test, as ally calls for military aid.
New Delhi fears significant military assistance to Afghan forces could create tensions with Pakistan
Afghan military commanders and intelligence officials have begun urging India to provide direct military assistance to the country’s fledgling armed forces following a series of skirmishes with Pakistani troops this autumn, highly placed government sources in Kabul told The Hindu.
Key equipment sought by the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), the sources said, include medium trucks that can carry 2.5-7 tonne cargos, bridge-laying equipment and engineering facilities. India was also asked to consider the possibility of supplying light mountain artillery, along with ordnance, and to help Afghanistan build close air-support capabilities for its troops in preparation of drastic scaling-down of western forces in 2014.
The requests followed fierce fighting along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border that raged from July to September, in which both sides used artillery
New Delhi fears significant military assistance to Afghan forces could create tensions with Pakistan
Afghan military commanders and intelligence officials have begun urging India to provide direct military assistance to the country’s fledgling armed forces following a series of skirmishes with Pakistani troops this autumn, highly placed government sources in Kabul told The Hindu.
Key equipment sought by the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), the sources said, include medium trucks that can carry 2.5-7 tonne cargos, bridge-laying equipment and engineering facilities. India was also asked to consider the possibility of supplying light mountain artillery, along with ordnance, and to help Afghanistan build close air-support capabilities for its troops in preparation of drastic scaling-down of western forces in 2014.
The requests followed fierce fighting along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border that raged from July to September, in which both sides used artillery
While the temptation to needle Pakistan in this manner is probably pretty high in India and the West, the facts are that such a move would only embolden those elements in the Afghan government that are supporting the TTP, and subsequently exacerbate the Afghan-Pakistan relationship and reduce even further any chance of Pakistan eventually cooperating with the Afghans as both sides settle down into a pattern of increasing support for insurgent groups on each side of the border. Afghan fears of a 'renewed Taliban assault on the country' would end up becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy, the India-Pakistan relationship will have regressed from even the little forward steps taken of late, and regional instability would be guaranteed to increase.
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