India's Changing Afghanistan Policy: Regional and Global Implications

Since 2001, Afghanistan has allowed New Delhi an opportunity tounderscore its role as a regional power. India has growing stakes in peace andstability in Afghanistan, and the 2011 India-Afghan strategic partnershipagreement underlines India's commitment to ensure that a positive momentumin Delhi-Kabul ties is maintained. This chapter examines the changingtrajectory of Indian policy toward Afghanistan since 2001 and argues that NewDelhi has been responding to a strategic environment shaped by other actors inthe region. As the U.S.-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces prepareto leave Afghanistan in 2014, India stands at a crossroads as it remains keen topreserve its interests in Afghanistan. This chapter underlines the ever-evolvingIndian policy in Afghanistan by examining it in three phases before drawingout the implications of this change for the region and the United States. Therehas been a broader maturing of the U.S.-India defense ties, and Afghanistan islikely to be a beneficiary of this trend. Managing Pakistan and unravellingIslamabad's encirclement complex should be the biggest priority for bothWashington and New Delhi in the coming years if there is to be any hope ofkeeping Afghanistan a stable entity post-2014.