Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Commandos being rushed to Afghanistan to protect Indians
June 26: India is rushing a contingent of para-military commandos to Afghanistan to beef up security of its personnel engaged in reconstruction work there in view of increase in Taliban activity. At least 134 highly trained ITBP commandos will be dispatched.
The decision to send additional commandos was taken in response to a recent SOS from BRO, which is engaged in construction of the 218-km Zaranj-Delaram highway, a strategic road that will connect Kandahar to Iran border.
M K Kutty, a driver with the BRO, was kidnapped and brutally killed by Taliban in November 2005. The Taliban had then demanded that India end its reconstruction operations in Afghanistan failing which others will meet the same fate.
IMO: It seems to me that the Taliban is supplied in Afghanistan by Iran, and this began mainly after the continued offensives by the US, UK and EU. They are supposed to be there also to rebuild Afghanistan and that does appear to be true, except when the Taliban, supplied by Iran, get it the way. The foolish looking thing seems to be that for the moment India, like Yerevan, are as good as an ally to Iran and in fact the roadworks being built by India clearly and very directly favor Iran !
Due to security and related issues, the estimated cost of the Zaranj-Delaram road project, targeted to be completed by May next year, has almost doubled from Rs 377 crore to Rs 730 crore. After additional ITBP commandos start work, the cost of the project is expected to go up to Rs 746.50 crore. The Delaram to Zaranj will shorten the distance from Kabul to Iran's port of Chahbahar by about 800 km. Nearly, two-third of the work has been completed, the sources said, adding construction is now going on in areas having substantial Taliban presence.
But, there may be another angle !
India on Monday accused "vested interests" for scuttling New Delhi's role in rebuilding war-ravaged Afghanistan. Expressing concern over the resurgence of Taliban in Afghanistan, Defence Minister A K Antony said, "Certain vested interests are trying to scuttle our role in rebuilding Afghanistan. We are committed to support this process and help Afghanistan emerge as a stable, democratic state," the defence minister said.
IndiaDefence take this to be a veiled reference to Pakistan. Probably this has to be considered. I would have thought it is basically due to the bankrupt 'Punjabistan' as Pakistan really no longer exists as a nation. 'Punjabistan' depends on its resources from the US and Arabia. If a peaceful SAFTA accord can be reached, then these problems should start to disappear.
One hopes that these matters may be eased by any Chennai talks. The ageing Nimitz is an ally, supposedly, of India. The US needs sensible and realistic allies, preferably on fairly good terms with Iran, in the area.
The decision to send additional commandos was taken in response to a recent SOS from BRO, which is engaged in construction of the 218-km Zaranj-Delaram highway, a strategic road that will connect Kandahar to Iran border.
M K Kutty, a driver with the BRO, was kidnapped and brutally killed by Taliban in November 2005. The Taliban had then demanded that India end its reconstruction operations in Afghanistan failing which others will meet the same fate.
IMO: It seems to me that the Taliban is supplied in Afghanistan by Iran, and this began mainly after the continued offensives by the US, UK and EU. They are supposed to be there also to rebuild Afghanistan and that does appear to be true, except when the Taliban, supplied by Iran, get it the way. The foolish looking thing seems to be that for the moment India, like Yerevan, are as good as an ally to Iran and in fact the roadworks being built by India clearly and very directly favor Iran !
Due to security and related issues, the estimated cost of the Zaranj-Delaram road project, targeted to be completed by May next year, has almost doubled from Rs 377 crore to Rs 730 crore. After additional ITBP commandos start work, the cost of the project is expected to go up to Rs 746.50 crore. The Delaram to Zaranj will shorten the distance from Kabul to Iran's port of Chahbahar by about 800 km. Nearly, two-third of the work has been completed, the sources said, adding construction is now going on in areas having substantial Taliban presence.
But, there may be another angle !
India on Monday accused "vested interests" for scuttling New Delhi's role in rebuilding war-ravaged Afghanistan. Expressing concern over the resurgence of Taliban in Afghanistan, Defence Minister A K Antony said, "Certain vested interests are trying to scuttle our role in rebuilding Afghanistan. We are committed to support this process and help Afghanistan emerge as a stable, democratic state," the defence minister said.
IndiaDefence take this to be a veiled reference to Pakistan. Probably this has to be considered. I would have thought it is basically due to the bankrupt 'Punjabistan' as Pakistan really no longer exists as a nation. 'Punjabistan' depends on its resources from the US and Arabia. If a peaceful SAFTA accord can be reached, then these problems should start to disappear.
One hopes that these matters may be eased by any Chennai talks. The ageing Nimitz is an ally, supposedly, of India. The US needs sensible and realistic allies, preferably on fairly good terms with Iran, in the area.
# posted by uv : 5:39 AM
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