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2016-06-05 Afghanistan
India's Modi Inaugurates $290 mn Dam in Afghanistan
[AnNahar] Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Afghanistan on Saturday to inaugurate a $290 million hydroelectric dam with Afghanistan's Caped President Ashraf Ghani
...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. ..
, the latest Indian investment which highlights strengthening ties between the two countries.
You do wonder where the progressive environmentalists managed to keep their heads from exploding -- what about the little fishies now unable to migrate up-river?
The 42 megawatt Salma dam in western Herat

Continued from Page 3


...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns...
province, bordering Iran, is the second major Indian project after a new parliament complex built under New Delhi's robust development partnership with Afghanistan.

Modi and Ghani jointly pressed the button on a remote-controlled console, sending torrents of water gushing down the dam as celebrations erupted with balloons released in the colours of the Indian flag.

"I want to give the good news to my people that 'Afghanistan-India Friendship Dam' is the prologue to construction of a series of dams that we have undertaken so that our provinces have access to electricity, water, food and work," Ghani said at the ceremony.

Construction on Salma dam, which will boost Afghanistan's power capacity and help irrigate thousands of hectares of farm land in a parched landscape, had been stalled by decades of conflict.

"Afghans and Indians dreamt of this project in the 1970s," Modi said.

"Today the brave Afghan people are sending a message that the forces of destruction, death, denial and domination shall not prevail. It is a historic moment of emotion and pride in the relations between Afghanistan and India."

India, the fifth largest bilateral donor in Afghanistan, has been a key supporter of Kabul
...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either....
's government and has poured more than $2 billion into the country since the Taliban was toppled from power in 2001.

- 'Building prosperity' -
New Delhi's active engagement has led analysts to point to the threat of a "proxy war" in Afghanistan between India and its nuclear-armed arch-rival Pakistain.

Pakistain -- the historic backer of the Taliban -- has long been accused of supporting the turbans in Afghanistan, especially with attacks on Indian targets in the country.

In December, Modi inaugurated Afghanistan's new parliament complex in Kabul, built by India at an estimated cost of $90 million.

A few days after his visit murderous Moslems launched a 25-hour gun and bomb siege near the Indian consulate in Afghanistan's Mazar-e-Sharif city.

And in March, Talibs fired a barrage of rockets at the parliament complex.

"Destroying is easy and building is difficult. Contrary to those whose main art is destroying and sending messages of destruction, we have taken the difficult responsibility of building prosperity," Ghani said in a veiled reference to the Taliban.

"We resolutely believe that... prosperity triumphs over destruction. Hope is right and hopelessness is wrong; seeking peace is right and seeking war is wrong."

Diplomatic relations between New Delhi and Kabul have grown despite a series of attacks on Indian installations in Afghanistan.

The two countries recently signed a three-way transit agreement with Iran to develop its southern port of Chabahar, as Modi visited Tehran last month.

The deal, bypassing Pakistain to connect Iran, India, and Afghanistan to central Asia, would boost economic growth in the region, Modi said at the time.
The view from India:
As Afghanistan's ties with Pakistan sour, India steps in nicely to fill breach

[TimesOfIndia] The dam, originally built in western Herat province in 1976 before being damaged during the civil wars of the 1990s, was rebuilt by some 1,500 Indian and Afghan engineers, according to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has nurtured closer ties with India in the past year as relations with Pakistain have deteriorated in the face of continued holy warrior attacks and border tensions.

Afghanistan has walked a fine line as it accepts Indian aid, with Pakistain historically wary of any Indian influence in Afghanistan.

A new national assembly building in Kabul and major power line and road construction have been among the main projects funded by India.
Posted by trailing wife 2016-06-05 00:00|| || Front Page|| [1 views ]  Top










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