India and Afghanistan share a bond that goes far beyond politics and borders. From ancient civilization to modern-day times, the bond is unbreakable, unshakable at any cost. They share a bond from movies to sports, spices to architecture, and human to human.
Historical ties between India and Afghanistan share a similar culture with the idea of
‘Hindi-Afghan bhai bhai’
Initiated with the Mauryan Empire (322–185 BCE), Kabul and Kandahar became prime locations of united India. Religious ties of Buddhist stupas and preachers, Afghanistan became a centre of Buddhist learning. Buddhism and its philosophy spread throughout the country.
Afghanistan was a connecting bridge between India and Central Asia. The trade connection
(Silk Route), spices, textiles, marbles, and cultural exchange were very significant in this region.
The Silk Route - Wikipedia
The heritage of trade connection continued with the Mughal Empire. Kabul and Kandahar were among the favourite cities for Mughals as they had an important strategic and economical location.
Afghanistan was a buffer zone between India and Central Asia. Moreover, trade ties were at their peak at that time.
Afghanistan became a hub for trade of spices, horses, textiles, and architecture.
In the post-independence time, India had a significant role in the reconstruction of Afghanistan.
The Afghani Parliament ($90 million), Salma Dam ($290 million), 218 km of Zaranj-Delaram highway that connects Afghanistan with Chabahar Port of Iran, more with it, India funded schools, universities of Afghanistan and provided scholarships for them in Indian institutes, the construction of Indira Gandhi Child Hospital and medical support of India during COVID-19. Moreover, there are more than 400 small and medium investments of India.
National Assembly (Afghanistan) – Inaugurated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in late 2015.
Salma Dam - The Salma Dam was opened on 4 June 2016 by former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani along with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Sports and film industries have created a sense of oneness and brotherhood between two nations. In fact, Afghanistan’s cricket team’s home ground is in India and BCCI has initiated the program for Afghan women’s cricket team.
Bollywood is a soft power that affected Afghanistan in favour of India.
Afghanistan is strategically and economically always in the geopolitical books of India.
India wants a trusted and reliable partner to counter Pakistan’s support and funded terrorists.
LeT(Lashkar-e-Taiba) and Haqqani Network have always been a problem for Afghanistan’s instability. India cracked down on this issue.
Afghanistan’s problem with Pakistan on KPK and TTP is beneficial for India as they can be a backyard proxy in India-Pakistan tension.
But there are several problems for India to rebuild the historical ties.
Political crises and governance of Afghanistan that is isolated and sanctioned by the USA and its allies create difficulty for India to get direct connection with them as the Taliban is known as a terrorist group in the eyes of the USA.
Economic transactions are not so easy.
India and Afghanistan are looking forward to rebuilding the relationship, for example, meeting the foreign ministers, talks, economic cooperation, and strategic operations…