Recently, relations between Afghanistan and India have taken a turn in a positive direction, which, for Pakistan, could have negative repercussions. India, which has long been a rival to Pakistan, signed a strategic partnership with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the beginning of October, paving the way for Indian training for the Afghan army.
In the past decade India has invested over $2 billion in Afghanistan, focusing largely on infrastructure and social programs. The motives of India have continuously been questioned by Pakistan, which lies in between the two nations. With the continued withdrawal of American led NATO forces, the vacuum created could be filled by the Indian government seeking to create an ally to Pakistan’s west.
Both India and Afghanistan have alleged corruption and have accused Pakistan of being weak on the terrorist cells operating within its borders. More recently Afghan officials have claimed that Pakistan had fostered the executors of a suicide attack that left former Afghan President and current head of the Afghan High Peace Council, Burhanuddin Rabbani, dead.
The alliance between India and Afghanistan could lead to increasing pressure on Pakistan to gain control of militant insurgents currently taking up refuge along the border near Afghanistan. With opposition along its two major borders, Pakistan could be put in an increasingly difficult position and may be forced to work more diligently to shore up its borders.
Well there are many economic, cultural, and strategic reasons for Afghanistan to nurture the relationship with India. Also it is a substitute to the status quo, kinda like the one that Pakistan attempted with China.India might want a friendship with Afghanistan to overtake Pakistan for Kabul. Pakistan has a national security objective in having a decisive say in Kabul; Afghanistan is its immediate neighbor, its backyard. India has its strategic interests in Kabul because while in Kabul, it can encircle Pakistan and imperil its Western borders in order to keep it in line and establish its hegemony in the region. So with Afghan-India relationship, Pakistan can lose control of Kabul.
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