Indians in Afghanistan
Here's the Indian former High Commissioner to Pakistan getting all in a tizz about how those incompetent foreigners (Americans, Europeans, anyone not Indian) have made such an awful mess in Afghanistan.
India recently got very upset when the second Indian engineer working on reconstruction projects in Afghanistan was murdered by the Taliban. Obviously very sad, but curious all the same, given the enormous numbers of Indians killed every year within Indian territory thanks to various insurgencies, Naxal (Maoist) attacks, etc.
His ranting (I think that's the word for it) only illustrates the looming conundrum for India, as it grows into a reluctant regional and world power. He complains about everything -- the Americans trust Pakistan too much, the Americans are once again using their pro-Pakistan relationship to sell India down the river, the Afghan military aren't being trained properly, the NATO forces are full of weak-kneed cowards who have no stomach for combat, etc, etc.
Thus raising the obvious question -- why doesn't India do something about it, since the unwritten subtext in complaining about all these other nations is that they're not doing a very good job "compared to us". But when he gets to it, he skips quickly over the question of deploying Indian forces in Afghanistan as an immediate non-starter. And doesn't explain it any more beyond that. Because of course, India doesn't do that sort of thing. It just sits on its ass and whines about how everyone else is messing it up, like the fat kid in PE class sitting on the boundary of a cricket match and criticising all other players, while refusing to strap on some pads himself.
Here are some unpleasant realisations that I predict will slowly dawn on the Indian political class once old men like this one fade from the scene and take their non-aligned snobbery with them. 1: Great powers are nations that act. 2: If India does not act, within its immediate region, then its security fate will ALWAYS be to sit on its ass and complain that other people aren't doing a very good job. 3: This will inevitably mean that India will have to do some things that are highly unpopular with the neighbours, the UN... hell, possibly even the Americans. That's what national interest means.
This notion that India might actually have to do something for itself one day is very unpalatable within Indian political classes, thanks to a lifetime's study of anti-American socialism. The idea that India might have to do the "American thing" one day and deploy forces to foreign conflicts in the name of national security gives men such as this the jitters precisely because such behavior is seen as American.
Now, there are some very good reasons not to send Indian troops into Afghanistan. It would surely upset the Pakistanis, who won't like being surrounded by Indians on two sides, thus jeopardizing the Indo-Pakistan peace process. That peace process is a very good thing, and is probably the best hope of moderating the Islamists in Pakistan over the long term, by encouraging Pakistan's already-impressive return to economic growth, and the cultural liberalisation that usually accompanies it. But clearly, from reading this article, it's clear the Indian political class wouldn't commit troops even if the Pakistanis were begging them to.
India has a big army, with its foundations in British-style discipline, and it's modernising as fast as the booming economy can afford. They didn't have a great record in WW2 (I recall an Australian soldier who fought in Burma telling stories about the 'Galloping Guwahatis', so-called because they ran like hell at the first sign of gunfire) but fighting for an independent India against Pakistan, their record is fairly robust -- three straight victories, four if you count the 1999 Kargil crisis. If they ever actually wanted to send a few thousands, or even tens of thousands, to Afghanistan, they could certainly do so, and would probably be very effective.
It will be interesting to see how long it takes the next generation of Indian leaders to shed the non-aligned mindset. India is currently one of the biggest contributors to UN peacekeeping missions, but peacekeepers operate in straight jackets, and I'm sure the former-High Commissioner would protest very loudly if Afghanistan were left to UN blue helmets. If you expect to actually fight, best not send the UN. What Indian unilateralism will actually look like, when it finally arrives, is a question that could change a lot of equations in that part of the world... and possibly some others, in time.
India recently got very upset when the second Indian engineer working on reconstruction projects in Afghanistan was murdered by the Taliban. Obviously very sad, but curious all the same, given the enormous numbers of Indians killed every year within Indian territory thanks to various insurgencies, Naxal (Maoist) attacks, etc.
His ranting (I think that's the word for it) only illustrates the looming conundrum for India, as it grows into a reluctant regional and world power. He complains about everything -- the Americans trust Pakistan too much, the Americans are once again using their pro-Pakistan relationship to sell India down the river, the Afghan military aren't being trained properly, the NATO forces are full of weak-kneed cowards who have no stomach for combat, etc, etc.
Thus raising the obvious question -- why doesn't India do something about it, since the unwritten subtext in complaining about all these other nations is that they're not doing a very good job "compared to us". But when he gets to it, he skips quickly over the question of deploying Indian forces in Afghanistan as an immediate non-starter. And doesn't explain it any more beyond that. Because of course, India doesn't do that sort of thing. It just sits on its ass and whines about how everyone else is messing it up, like the fat kid in PE class sitting on the boundary of a cricket match and criticising all other players, while refusing to strap on some pads himself.
Here are some unpleasant realisations that I predict will slowly dawn on the Indian political class once old men like this one fade from the scene and take their non-aligned snobbery with them. 1: Great powers are nations that act. 2: If India does not act, within its immediate region, then its security fate will ALWAYS be to sit on its ass and complain that other people aren't doing a very good job. 3: This will inevitably mean that India will have to do some things that are highly unpopular with the neighbours, the UN... hell, possibly even the Americans. That's what national interest means.
This notion that India might actually have to do something for itself one day is very unpalatable within Indian political classes, thanks to a lifetime's study of anti-American socialism. The idea that India might have to do the "American thing" one day and deploy forces to foreign conflicts in the name of national security gives men such as this the jitters precisely because such behavior is seen as American.
Now, there are some very good reasons not to send Indian troops into Afghanistan. It would surely upset the Pakistanis, who won't like being surrounded by Indians on two sides, thus jeopardizing the Indo-Pakistan peace process. That peace process is a very good thing, and is probably the best hope of moderating the Islamists in Pakistan over the long term, by encouraging Pakistan's already-impressive return to economic growth, and the cultural liberalisation that usually accompanies it. But clearly, from reading this article, it's clear the Indian political class wouldn't commit troops even if the Pakistanis were begging them to.
India has a big army, with its foundations in British-style discipline, and it's modernising as fast as the booming economy can afford. They didn't have a great record in WW2 (I recall an Australian soldier who fought in Burma telling stories about the 'Galloping Guwahatis', so-called because they ran like hell at the first sign of gunfire) but fighting for an independent India against Pakistan, their record is fairly robust -- three straight victories, four if you count the 1999 Kargil crisis. If they ever actually wanted to send a few thousands, or even tens of thousands, to Afghanistan, they could certainly do so, and would probably be very effective.
It will be interesting to see how long it takes the next generation of Indian leaders to shed the non-aligned mindset. India is currently one of the biggest contributors to UN peacekeeping missions, but peacekeepers operate in straight jackets, and I'm sure the former-High Commissioner would protest very loudly if Afghanistan were left to UN blue helmets. If you expect to actually fight, best not send the UN. What Indian unilateralism will actually look like, when it finally arrives, is a question that could change a lot of equations in that part of the world... and possibly some others, in time.
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