Army flags Afghan worry The chief of army staff, General Bikram Singh, “flagged concerns” over the withdrawal of international troops from Afghanistan next year in talks with visiting US army chief, General Raymond Odierno, here today. The Indian Army chief was echoing the sentiments of the Prime Minister expressed during his meeting with the US Vice-President, Joe Biden, on Tuesday. General Odierno also met defence minister A.K. Antony. The visits of both Biden and Odierno underscore the importance the US places in its “rebalance” towards Asia policy. But the visits have also pointed to the discomforts of New Delhi even as India and the US are continuing with elaborate military-to-military ties. The US army chief’s visit to India coincides with the visit of the Air Chief Marshal N.A.K Browne to the US. Browne is the Chairperson of the Chiefs of Staff Committee and the IAF chief. The Indian defence establishment is in particular watching the talks between the Taliban in Afghanistan and the US. It is also preparing for a “blowback” with the drawdown of US and international troops slated for next year. The scenario that concerns India is the return of a pre-2001 situation when the Taliban was calling the shots in Kabul and Pakistan army-backed militants had escalated violence in Jammu and Kashmir and on the Line of Control. Since a ceasefire on the LoC in 2002 — a year after US forces entered Afghanistan — Pakistan has diverted some units of its army to its western frontier with Afghanistan to help secure the US military’s supply lines and also for offensives against militants operating on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The drawdown of international forces and a loose administration in Kabul is a potential threat not only to Indian economic interests in Afghanistan but also to peace in Kashmir, the army assesses.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Jul 2013 05:37:46 +0000
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