India to finally send non-UN forces(training capacity) in Afghanistan

India plans to send military personnel, trainers and equipment to train the Afghan Army.

A similar deployment is planned in Uzbekistan.
This would be the first Indian troop deployment abroad that is NOT under the UN banner, for a long time.
Such news would be an obvious irritant for Pakistan who is already being accused of being complacent of the Taliban counter-offensive.
This offensive is supposedly based out of Pakistan and is directed at the ISAF forces(NATO led) in Southern Afghanistan.

India has an AFB in Ayni Tajikistan though the Indian govt claims that this base does not operate any fixed-wing fighters at the moment.(Only helis)

Though the current team-strength is only some 10-12 officers, there are serious points to ponder:

1)Instigating the Taliban into carrying out a more India-centric campaign (expanding into the insurgency war in Kashmir).

2)Does India actually have the strategic reach to implant, sustain and if required evacute division-sized troop deployments in places like Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, both landlocked and not having common borders with India.

India does have the hardware to execute such airlift, though there border complications and a permanent safe air passage to Afghanistan does not exist. The complications are increased due to the obstructing terrain being either Pakistani or Chinese.

Source

Relevant news from last year:
UK presses India to send troops to Afghanistan
Pak to US: Limit Indian troops in Afghanistan

[edit on 25-4-2007 by Daedalus3]

Read the Post!!!

Seems UK reporters are lackin intelligence... About the Safe Air passage between Afghanistan and India... The chineese would provide that gleefully... India is a high consumer of their electrical goods and negotiating a safe air passage from the chineese territory is not something very difficult... Secondly major misconception about lack of technology for evacuation... If required India has enough might and Allies like Russia to Threat a contry and even possibly lay down a strike to secure its citizens... But of course the new reporters will speak what they know officially...

Originally posted by deepsilentwaters
Read the Post!!!

Seems UK reporters are lackin intelligence...

amazing since the source is New Delhi Television Limited they must be `UK reporters`.


its indian through and through

which is also very provocative as well since

''This decision will send a wrong signal in the neighbourhood. India can do whatever it wants in reconstruction of war-ravaged Afghanistan but to send even a small training team is fraught with dangers. Pakistan will instigate the Taliban against us and even Iran will not take it kindly,'' said Lt Gen RK Sawhney, Former DGMI.

they believe what they want to - someone playing brinksmanship again.

Originally posted by deepsilentwaters
Read the Post!!!

Seems UK reporters are lackin intelligence... About the Safe Air passage between Afghanistan and India... The chineese would provide that gleefully... India is a high consumer of their electrical goods and negotiating a safe air passage from the chineese territory is not something very difficult... Secondly major misconception about lack of technology for evacuation... If required India has enough might and Allies like Russia to Threat a contry and even possibly lay down a strike to secure its citizens... But of course the new reporters will speak what they know officially...

Hey dsw,
welcome to ATS..

Incase you were unaware, the chinese would never take kindly to military activities by Indian forces in their backyard. Moreover, flights by Indian military aircraft over Chinese airspace would be highly provocative.

And there isn't a lack of hardware for foreign troop deployments.
India has deployed forces abroad in large amounts(IPKF in Sri Lanka) before.
The issue is whether India has the strategic reach to ensure continual supply and support(additional firepower if required) for such deployments.

Without a clear air passage and unfriendly neighbours, this is very iffy and quite risky infact.


Harlequin,

Yes this initiative in Indian inside-out, wouldn't want it any other way..
I was just pointing out that ISAF has wanted Indian troops in Afghanistan for sometime now.


btw dsw, I U2Ued you.. check and reply.
thanks


[edit on 26-4-2007 by Daedalus3]

Originally posted by Daedalus3
Harlequin,

Yes this initiative in Indian inside-out, wouldn't want it any other way..
I was just pointing out that ISAF has wanted Indian troops in Afghanistan for sometime now.

interesting twist in translation since i never said it was an indian initiative - moreover that the relvant news reporting was indian rather than `uk reporters`

but that is by-the-by , if you read between the lines , they are scaling up (again) for playing `the game` with Pakistan.-*

and believe it or not that is where we`ll see the first nuke going bang since ww2 not israel or iran (much to israelie chargrin ofc)


but back to topic

interesting that india wishes to go in now - whenthe situation is still so volitile in afghan

Originally posted by Harlequin
interesting twist in translation since i never said it was an indian initiative - moreover that the relvant news reporting was indian rather than `uk reporters`

Before we further widen the comm gap..
What I meant by 'an Indian initiative' was in complement to your 'Indian through-n-through' statement, i.e. nothing to do with ISAF coercion.
Period.

but that is by-the-by , if you read between the lines , they are scaling up (again) for playing `the game` with Pakistan.-*
and believe it or not that is where we`ll see the first nuke going bang since ww2 not israel or iran (much to israelie chargrin ofc)

India has always warmed up to anti-taleban factions in Afghanistan much before the US,ISAF or anyone else was active in the area.
Infact the Northern Alliance was heavily funded by Indians(and the Russians)
before 9/11 et all..
So this maybe 'relatively new' in current context, but its pretty old in a broader,older strategic context.

Besides, Pakistan will have to deal with Indian influencial expansion in central asia, and hopefully no see it as a direct move meant only to encircle Pakistan.If they want to get all nuclear about it then tough on them. Infact harping on the nuclear issue too often will just force India to actively pursue a strong ABM defence system with inputs available from PACIII, Arrow2, S-300/400 etc. thus reducing the potency of the Pak N-arsenal itself.
Testing is already in progress..

Finally can you provide some insight on how India is 'again' upping the ante w.r.t. Pakistan?Was there a 1st time?
I've always pretty much thought it was the other way around, but hey maybe I'm biased..

but back to topic

interesting that india wishes to go in now - whenthe situation is still so volitile in afghan

12 officers in a 'training' capacity (at the moment) doesn't seem too intimidating from Pakistan's point of view.
Maybe India wants to make that first strong footprint while the ground is 'soft' enough. Maybe the Afghans view the Taleban problem as long term: something that will persist and perhaps resume more aggressively once ISAF,NATO et all leave.
They obviously see no friend in Pakistan(or Iran) in this matter, and as I've said before, India has always been an old friend.
Getting an early heads up on anti-insurgency ops maybe is just what the doctor ordered.

by volitile i mean the whole afghan issue - not relating to pakistan , but the various factions fighting for power within the country , 12 will become more in a short time , if only for `boots on the ground` security.


of course you will have a bias in relation to who ups the ante in the region - you own lcal is obvious

[edit on 26/4/07 by Harlequin]

Originally posted by Harlequin
by volitile i mean the whole afghan issue - not relating to pakistan , but the various factions fighting for power within the country , 12 will become more in a short time , if only for `boots on the ground` security.

Actually its pretty much the taleban and allied warlords against the government+allied warlords. There aren't too many major factions in Afghanistan on the whole.

of course you will have a bias in relation to who ups the ante in the region - you own lcal is obvious

[edit on 26/4/07 by Harlequin]

True; but I'm still willing to listen to what you have to say..
Broadens perspective if nothing else

Really,I'm curious to know when India upped the ante before this?

Originally posted by Daedalus3
India has an AFB in Ayni Tajikistan though the Indian govt claims that this base does not operate any fixed-wing fighters at the moment.(Only helis)

Daedalus3,

You seriously aren't considering those rumors as "fact".

Originally posted by chinawhite

Originally posted by Daedalus3
India has an AFB in Ayni Tajikistan though the Indian govt claims that this base does not operate any fixed-wing fighters at the moment.(Only helis)

Daedalus3,

You seriously aren't considering those rumors as "fact".

Which rumors?

1)Rumors about India rebuilding the airbase?

2)Rumors about a permanent IAF presence at the airbase with rotational Indian-Tajik-Russian Commands?

3)Rumors about the IAF housing a sqn of Mi-17s at the airbase?

4)Or the rumors about the IAF stationing a detachment of MiG-29s over there(12-14 units)?


Rumors, half-truths, cover-ups, cosmetic deterrence..
Who knows!

I don't!