05-09-2006, 01:04 AM
The key to understanding the Afghan predicament is that due to a quirk of nature it has very poor resources to sustain itself. Hence throughout history it has been a 'rentier' state that has depended on the rich arable lands of the Indus and the Ganges river valleys. Its decline started a thousand years ago when it aligned with the Islamic hordes and reached a peak or really a valley in the colonial era when it was cut off from its rich resources in the Indo-Gangetic plains due to British paramountcy in Hindustan.
<b>Hence to revive Afghanistan it is crucial to renew its connections to the Indo-Gangetic plains or the modern state of Bharat. The connections have to be revived in the economic, cultural, military and politicial sphere. </b>The morass it sank into in the Taleban era was due to the cutoff in the ties to India.
After Afghan liberation, the Loya Jirga declared Afghnaistan as an Islamic republic and the US went along to please the TSP. This in my opinion is a fundamental mistake. If the US had fought in WWII and did not allow the re-establishment of colonies in the former colonial lands by UK, France, and Dutch, why is it allowing the establishment of Islamic nations in countries liberated from the yoke of Islamism?
Modern world does not accept empires and conquest. However a new name has to be given to the relationship to tie Afghanistan to India beyond the empty words of SAARC etc. India has to help revive the Afghan infra-structure and rebuild its schools and universities. <b>I think India should earmark a yearly budget allocation for Afghanistan. In return Afghanistan should purge itself of its rentier behavior and allow Indian presence in all its forms in accordance with the UN Charter.</b>
<b>Hence to revive Afghanistan it is crucial to renew its connections to the Indo-Gangetic plains or the modern state of Bharat. The connections have to be revived in the economic, cultural, military and politicial sphere. </b>The morass it sank into in the Taleban era was due to the cutoff in the ties to India.
After Afghan liberation, the Loya Jirga declared Afghnaistan as an Islamic republic and the US went along to please the TSP. This in my opinion is a fundamental mistake. If the US had fought in WWII and did not allow the re-establishment of colonies in the former colonial lands by UK, France, and Dutch, why is it allowing the establishment of Islamic nations in countries liberated from the yoke of Islamism?
Modern world does not accept empires and conquest. However a new name has to be given to the relationship to tie Afghanistan to India beyond the empty words of SAARC etc. India has to help revive the Afghan infra-structure and rebuild its schools and universities. <b>I think India should earmark a yearly budget allocation for Afghanistan. In return Afghanistan should purge itself of its rentier behavior and allow Indian presence in all its forms in accordance with the UN Charter.</b>