Context: Recently, India announced 150 projects worth $80 million (about Rs 592 crore) for Afghanistan.
Background

• Since 2002, India has so far committed $3 billion (about Rs 2,200 crore) towards rebuilding and reconstruction of Afghanistan.
• India did not invest in Afghanistan during the Taliban years from 1996 to 2001.
• The recent decision has signalled a long-term commitment to Afghanistan’s future irrespective of being under Taliban or other political forces.

About Afghanistan

• Afghanistan is a landlocked country in Central and South Asia.
• It is bordered by Pakistan to the east and south; India via Gilgit Baltistan region which is currently occupied by Pakistan; Iran to the west; Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan to the north; and China to the northeast.
• It is a mountainous country with plains in the north and southwest.
• Kabul is the capital and largest city.
• The population is mostly composed of ethnic Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras, and Uzbeks.

About the Taliban

• The Taliban are a Sunni Islamic fundamentalist political movement and military organisation in Afghanistan.
• They are currently waging war (an insurgency, or jihad) within Afghanistan.

India-Afghanistan Relations

• India and Afghanistan have a strong relationship based on historical and cultural links.
• The two countries signed the Strategic Partnership Agreement in 2011 with the aim to rebuild Afghanistan in various fields such as:
• Rebuild Afghanistan's infrastructure and institutions.
• Education and technical assistance to re-build indigenous Afghan capacity in different areas.
• Encouraging investment in Afghanistan's natural resources
• Providing duty-free access to the Indian market for Afghanistan's exports support for an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned, broad-based and inclusive process of peace and reconciliation.
• Advocating the need for a sustained and long-term commitment to Afghanistan by the international community.

India`s support to Afghanistan
Rebuilding Efforts

• More than 400 projects have been implemented, across all the 34 provinces of Afghanistan.
• Build the Shahtoot dam, which will provide drinking water to 2 million residents of Kabul.
• Launch phase-IV of high-impact community development projects in Afghanistan.

India’s current development programmes in Afghanistan are centred around five pillars:

• Large infrastructure projects such as 218 km road from Delaram to Zaranj (on Iranian border), Salma dam (Afghan-India Friendship Dam); and the Afghan Parliament building.
• Human resource development and capacity building supporting more than students through various scholarship programmes to Afghanistan students.
• Humanitarian assistance such as providing vocational training to a large number of women in Afghanistan or sending life-saving medicines etc.
• High-impact community development projects.
• Enhancing trade and investment through air and land connectivity.

Defence Relations

• Gifted four Mi-25 Attack helicopters to the Afghan Air Force.
• India and Afghanistan signed an agreement in the area of Police Training.

Commercial Relations

• The bilateral trade at for the year 2016-17 was USD 800 million approx.
• India is the largest market in the region for Afghan products.
• The Afghanistan Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA) has affected India-Afghanistan trade.

Efforts

• Building Zaranj-Delaram road by India to boost bilateral economic relations by providing connectivity to Chabahar port.
• The successful operation of the Chabahar port in Iran would mutually benefit India and Afghanistan.
• The inauguration of the Dedicated Air Cargo Corridor in June 2017 between Kabul-Delhi and Kandahar-Delhi has provided a fresh impetus to bilateral trade.

Afghan Culture Relations

• India and Afghanistan share centuries-old cultural heritage with deep-rooted linkages in the field of music, arts, architecture, language and cuisine.
• Today, the biggest challenge for Afghanistan is to rediscover and sustain its ancient art and architectural knowledge.