Friday, March 29, 2024 | Ramadan 18, 1445 H
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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

How will Trump’s India card play in Afghan great game?

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NEW YORK: United States President Donald Trump has played the India card against Pakistan in the Afghan great game, but would that become a true trump card for India?


Earlier this week, Trump assigned a “critical” role for India in his country’s South Asia strategy for fighting terrorism, building up a safe Afghanistan and appealed for help, while at the same time warning Pakistan of repercussions for the double game of unleashing terrorists against the Afghans and the US while collecting billions from Washington.


It amounts to threatening Islamabad that Washington could pivot to India if it didn’t stop supporting “the same organisations that try every single day to kill our people”, as Trump put it.


The US move comes as the civilian leadership is unmoored after Nawaz Sharif was removed as Pakistan Prime Minister by a court order.


It also coincides with the simmering military standoff between India and China, the other power with deep involvement in the region and patron of Pakistan. How Beijing reacts would be a factor in the way things work out for India.


There are two other players in the great game, Iran and Russia, with whom the US has a hostile relationship. They can influence developments in Afghanistan and India can play a covert intermediary role between them.


Past US presidents, George W Bush and Barack Obama, have in joint statements acknowledged New Delhi’s humanitarian and development assistance to Afghanistan, but what makes Trump’s statement different is that he openly incorporates India into the US strategy for Afghanistan and South Asia and juxtaposes it with his warnings to Pakistan.


Trump putting Pakistan on notice directly marks a change from the tradition of the Cold War that made Pakistan the indisputable and indispensable ally and there is a twist of irony here.


Soon after 9/11 in 2001, as the US prepared to go into Afghanistan, India offered the use of its airbases, but it was turned down and Washington decided to go with Pakistan despite its history of aiding both the Taliban and Al Qaeda.


Trump’s request to India was deliberately open-ended, while stressing what is already being done. “We want them to help us more with Afghanistan, especially in the area of economic assistance and development,” he said.


New Delhi has committed more than $3 billion in aid to Kabul and has undertaken important projects like constructing a Parliament house and building major highways in the face of Taliban attacks.— IANS


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