Saturday, August 27, 2016
Kabul (BNA) Bilateral relations between Afghanistan and India have traditionally been strong and friendly since long. In fact, relations between the two countries have recently enhanced a move that has concerned Pakistan.
Recently, Afghanistan Embassy’s officials in New Delhi asserted that India is willing to deliver more military equipment to Afghanistan to better fight on terror, as it has already sent many choppers and other weaponries.
Welcoming Afghanistan-India enhanced military cooperation, Shaikh Mohammad Ebdali, the Afghan ambassador in New Delhi said, ‘although, Pakistan is afraid of India’s military cooperation with Afghanistan, India is expected to deliver more weaponries to Afghanistan.’
The Afghan security forces are in dire need of modern and sophisticated military weaponries to fight the Taliban, Daesh and other insurgent groups, Ebdali said. He welcomed delivering four warplanes by India to Afghan security forces, saying we are facing a serious threat {terrorism}, a phenomenon that has seriously worried the regional countries, particularly India. Meanwhile, a number of experts on military affairs calling India’s military assistance to Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) a must, stressing that the ANSF need the international community, particularly India’s military cooperation for long.
Abdul Hadi Khalid, former deputy minister of interior ministry and military expert said, ‘there is no doubt that the Afghan security forces are relied to the international assistances to ensure security in the country, therefore, we expect India to continue its cooperation with Afghanistan.’
Afghanistan is still among the poor countries of the world, where seriously needs the international community assistances, Khalid further said.
He added that the donor countries should not leave Afghanistan alone in fighting terrorism, because, terrorism is not only a threat to Afghanistan, but also to regional and the world countries. Therefore, joint cooperation is needed to uproot the phenomenon, he stressed.
AtiqullahAmarkhil, another military expert said, ‘as like as Afghanistan, India is concerned over presence of extremist groups in the region, therefore, it is keen to bolster military cooperation with Afghanistan.’
He added that as a matter of fact, the government of Afghanistan should observe balance in its relations with regional countries so relations with one country don’t negatively affect ties with others. Lauding efforts of the Afghan security forces on ensuring security in the country, a number of lawmakers stress on their further equipping by government and the international community.
They believe that the ANSF should be equipped with modern weaponries so they are capable enough to fight insurgency. The Afghan security forces have already proven their ability, but they are still seriously faced with lack of equipment, the lawmakers further said. They also need to be professionally trained to be completely able to defend the country and their countrymen against security threats, lawmakers added. At the same time, a number of citizens said, ‘the Afghan security forces could win the people trust and they have proven their capability in the battlefields, therefore, the donor countries should further support them militarily and don’t leave them alone in fighting terrorism.’ This is while that recently, Russia, India and U.S. have provided the Afghan security forces with a quantity of arms and many warplanes.
Suraya-Raiszada
