DTN News - AFGHAN PRESIDENT HAMID KARZAI IN INDIA: Karzai Seeks Indian Military Aid Amid Pakistan Row

DTN News - AFGHAN PRESIDENT HAMID KARZAI IN INDIA: Karzai Seeks Indian Military Aid Amid Pakistan Row

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Kay Johnson | Associated Press – Sun, May 19, 2013
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 20, 2013: Afghan President Hamid Karzai will seek increased military aid from India during a three-day visit starting Monday and will discuss recent cross-border clashes with Pakistan, India's archrival, an aide said.

The comments follow a weekend report by the Times of India that said Afghanistan's ambassador to India had said the country needs India's help with "equipment and weapons to fight." The Press Trust of India later quoted a spokesman for New Delhi's Foreign Ministry as saying the country is ready to meet any such request.

"Yes, we will ask for assistance for the strengthening of our security forces," Karzai spokesman Aimal Faizi said in a briefing ahead of the trip. He did not comment on the Indian reports.

Karzai's visit could irk Pakistan, especially if any arms deal materializes. Pakistan considers Afghanistan its own backyard and suspects rival India of seeking greater influence there as a strategy to hem in the country from both sides. Pakistan and India have fought three wars since they were divided into two countries when they gained independence from Britain in 1947.

Afghanistan and India signed a strategic partnership agreement in 2011 that has included Indian military training of Afghan security forces. Faizi indicated in Saturday's briefing that Karzai would seek to expand that cooperation. "Whatever our Afghan security forces would need for assistance and help, India would help us," he said.

Afghan analyst Wadir Safi, a political science professor at Kabul University, says the timing of Karzai's India trip is likely related to recent border skirmishes with Pakistan.

Each side has been accusing the other of firing across the mountainous border region for months, including a skirmish earlier this month that killed an Afghan border policeman. Both countries have also accused each other of providing shelter for insurgents fighting on the other side of the border.

Afghan accusations that Pakistan is allegedly trying to torpedo efforts to start peace talks with the Taliban have also contributed to deteriorating relations. Pakistan is considered crucial to nudging Taliban leaders, many of which are in hiding in Pakistan, to the table — a key goal of the United States and its allies ahead of the final pullout of foreign combat forces by the end of next year.

Karzai has long been deeply suspicious of the motives of Pakistan's government and military, which backed the Taliban regime before it was toppled in the 2001 U.S.-led intervention and has since seemed unable or unwilling to go after militant leaders taking refuge inside its borders. The killing of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden in Pakistan only strengthened Afghan wariness of his neighbor.

Any increased military cooperation with India would likely only contribute to tensions, Safi warned. Afghanistan had been a proxy battleground for Pakistan and India during the war between the Pakistani-backed Taliban regime and the India-supported Northern Alliance.

Another Afghan analyst, Hamidullah Farooqi, said he thinks the reports of India supplying weapons are simply brinkmanship and, at most, India might agree to help Afghanistan upgrade old Soviet-era weaponry.

"An arms deal with India would not be helpful for regional stability or for the balance that Afghanistan needs between India and Pakistan," Farooqi said. "This is just a political game. I don't think there will be an arms deal."

Aside from regional strategic rivalries, Karzai is expected to discuss economic issues and will visit an engineering university where he will receive an honorary degree, Faizi said.

India has invested more than $2 billion in Afghan infrastructure, including highways and hospitals and rural electricity projects. New Delhi is hoping to gain some influence in the country after 2014, when Afghan forces become responsible for the entire country's security.

Karzai, who earned his college degree in India, has visited New Delhi more than a half dozen times in the past few years, most recently in November 2012.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources  By Kay Johnson | Associated Press – Sun, May 19, 2013
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*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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DTN News - AFGHANISTAN FACTOR: Should India Provide Direct Military Aid To Afghanistan?

DTN News - AFGHANISTAN FACTOR: Should India Provide Direct Military Aid To Afghanistan?

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Javid Ahmad - NYTimes

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 14, 2013: Over the past decade, India has invested heavily in Afghanistan’s reconstruction. Recognizing India’s significant economic and development contributions, the United States has called on New Delhi to play an important role in the new Silk Road initiative aimed at transforming Afghanistan into a regional trade hub.

At the same time, New Delhi has been reluctant to become directly involved in supporting Afghanistan’s nascent security sector. The many uncertainties surrounding next year’s security transition from international to Afghan leadership raise further questions about New Delhi’s role in the Afghan endgame..

India’s decision-makers acknowledge that India’s own internal security would be at risk if the international drawdown from Afghanistan leaves behind a security vacuum that is filled by Pakistan-backed militant groups. New Delhi can no longer ignore the related consequences. And while some of the Pakistan-related sensitivities are important for India, it should not approach its relations with Afghanistan, a sovereign nation, solely from a Pakistan angle.

One way for New Delhi to overcome its anxieties and further cement ties with Kabul is to consider providing direct military assistance to the Afghan government and training support to the burgeoning Afghan National Security Forces. The India-Afghanistan Strategic Partnership Agreement signed in October 2011 already provides the staging ground for an increased military cooperation with Afghanistan. Under the agreement, India provides — though to a limited extent — training support and light military equipment to Afghan forces.

However, because of New Delhi’s hesitation to put military personnel on the ground, all trainings of Afghan forces are conducted inside India. Although New Delhi has deployed a small number of paramilitary forces to guard its diplomatic facilities and aid workers in Afghanistan after a number of attacks, the troops are not engaged in any combat or training missions. Looking ahead, India’s decision-makers should consider anchoring these troops to support the Afghan forces and also consider establishing a military training academy in Afghanistan for Afghan forces.

More specifically, India should focus on propping up the Afghan air force, which remains largely reliant on international air support. India should bolster the ability of the Afghan air force to more ably operate its current fleet of 50 helicopters. For Afghan forces, the helicopters are an essential tool for operational air support and for resupplying remote military outposts, so New Delhi should particularly focus on training the technical and maintenance staff, on supplying the necessary spare parts and on improving the Afghan aircrew’s medevac capability. By supplying an airbase support advisory team, India can augment the ability of the Afghan air force to support ground operations with troop and cargo movements and deploy Afghan forces across the country.

In addition to training support, India should consider providing the Afghan government with military hardware, including attack helicopters, a handful of fighter aircrafts, armored vehicles, artillery and tactical communication tools. New Delhi may boost these efforts by increasing its cooperation with Afghan intelligence services and provide specialized training to Afghan operatives in collecting technical and aerial intelligence.

Undeniably, these measures would come with important risks and constraints. For one, it would add further to Pakistan’s many deep-rooted security concerns. Pakistan could derail the incipient peace talks with the Taliban, increase its support to the insurgent elements it hosts on its soil to spur further violence in Afghanistan or employ militant groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba to strike more frequently in India or on Indian assets inside Afghanistan.

However, a closer India-Afghan relationship would be intended to strengthen the Afghan government so it can remain functioning after 2014, and not to monitor Pakistan’s activities. Pakistan must realize that India’s assistance will go directly to the Afghan government, and not to any Afghan factions, as it has been in the past. Pakistan must also recognize that closer ties with India in Afghanistan better serves the interests of all parties.

Kabul does not choose sides in its relations with India and Pakistan, and, as it does with New Delhi, Kabul can also work with Islamabad in security and other sectors, but Pakistan must first show a sincere effort that it is not working toward sinister strategic objectives in Afghanistan.

Looking ahead, India is expected to stay the course and stick to training the Afghan forces inside India to avoid any backlash. But Afghanistan would welcome greater military assistance from India. Growing frustration with Pakistan has also prompted Washington to seek more Indian engagement after former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, during a visit to New Delhi, called on India to continue training the Afghan forces.

India is uniquely placed to provide such support. It leads the world’s fourth-largest and modernized military force with extraordinary experience in training missions. India’s military could use the services of many India-trained Afghan security personnel buoyed by people-to-people contacts and linguistic affinity within Afghanistan.

A politically and economically stable Afghanistan is of a strategic significance to India, but more collaboration is necessary. Despite little support among India’s policy makers for greater military cooperation with Afghanistan, the lingering ambiguity around Afghanistan’s future after 2014 provides a good opportunity for New Delhi to step up its efforts to be a force for stability in the country. Afghanistan values its relations with India, and any future direct military and training support to Afghan forces would not only strengthen bilateral relations but would also play a significant role in enhancing Afghanistan’s security after international forces leave the country.

Javid Ahmad is a program coordinator for Asia at the German Marshall Fund of the United States and a consultant to Pentagon’s AfPak Hands program

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Javid Ahmad - NYTimes
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*Photograph: IPF (International Pool of Friends) + DTN News / otherwise source stated
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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DTN News - BATTLE FOR LIBYA: Britain Sending Military Advisers To Libya

DTN News - BATTLE FOR LIBYA: Britain Sending Military Advisers To Libya

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources AFP

(NSI News Source Info)

LONDON, U.K.

- April 19, 2011:

Britain said Tuesday it is sending military advisers to help organise Libyan rebels, even as western powers denied they could soon break their taboo against putting foreign boots on the ground.

The announcement came as France strongly warned against sending any coalition troops into Libya, where a two-month revolt against Moamer Kadhafi's regime has stalled and civilian casualties are mounting.

Foreign Secretary William Hague insisted the addition of about 12 military advisers to Britain's diplomatic team in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi did not breach a UN resolution authorising air strikes against Kadhafi's forces.

"They're not boots on the ground, this is not British ground combat forces going in... There is going to be no ground invasion of Libya," Hague told BBC television.

Hague said the British advisers would not arm or train the rebels, but would help them develop organisational structures, communications and logistics and coordinating humanitarian aid and medical supplies.

"They're people with the expertise in those sorts of things. They're not there, I stress, to train fighting forces, to arm fighting forces or of course to take part in any fighting themselves," he added.

The rebels "clearly lack that organisational experience and, yes, we do think that with that experience they will be able to save lives, in Ajdabiya, perhaps in Misrata," he said.

With thousands clamouring to escape the besieged rebel city of Misrata, Britain said it would charter ships to pick up 5,000 migrant workers after a ferry rescued nearly 1,000 on Monday.

In Paris, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Tuesday that he was "entirely hostile" to the idea of sending coalition ground troops into Libya -- even special forces to guide air strikes.

Juppe brushed off a call from Axel Poniatowski, the influential chairman of the French parliament's foreign affairs committee, for elite allied forces to be deployed to help identify targets for coalition jets.

"I remain, for my part, entirely hostile to the deployment of forces on the ground," Juppe said.

He also played down reports that French troops were already liaising with rebel commanders at their Benghazi headquarters, insisting there was only a small French security team in the city to protect the French envoy.

A senior French diplomatic source admitted to AFP that a French officer had indeed been assigned to the rebel "control room" in Benghazi.

Juppe also called on NATO allies to help British and French jets break the siege of Misrata.

NATO jets and cruise missiles struck Kadhafi's command and control centres late Monday in an apparent bid to increase the pressure on Kadhafi, but the alliance acknowledged the limits of air power.

Dutch Brigadier General Mark van Uhm, speaking in Brussels, conceded that Kadhafi's tactic of using human shields and hiding tanks and other heavy weapons, especially around Misrata, has deterred some NATO missions.

Libyan rebel leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil however urged the coalition to push ahead and topple Kadhafi.

"Kadhafi will never give up power except by force," Jalil said in Rome after talks with Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini.

Coalition powers have called for Kadhafi to stand down but have steered clear of suggesting that the UN Security Council resolution passed on March 19 enables them to topple him themselves.

Frattini said the opposition could be aided with military equipment and foreign oil sales, but like other western powers haunted by wars in Iraq and Afghanistan he too opposed an invasion of Libya.

"We don't have many alternatives. One of the alternatives is the use of ground troops. Italy is not in favour of sending ground troops," he said.

Frattini cited Jalil as saying that 10,000 people had been killed and up to 55,000 wounded in the conflict so far.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources AFP

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  *Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources AFP

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