| Submit your comments on this article |
| India-Pakistan |
| India's foray into Central Asia |
| 2006-08-12 |
| By Sudha Ramachandran BANGALORE - Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov's five-day visit to India that ended on Thursday might not have grabbed much media attention in New Delhi, but it is in Tajikistan that India is taking quiet strides toward furthering its ambition of becoming a global player: India's first military base abroad will become operational in Tajikistan soon. During Rakhmonov's visit, the two countries signed pacts on strengthening cooperation in the fields of energy, science and technology, foreign-office consultation, and cultural exchange. India also offered to rehabilitate the Varzob-1 hydropower plant in Tajikistan. Two days before the Tajik president's visit, the India-Tajikistan joint working group (JWG) on counter-terrorism met in Delhi. At the JWG meeting, the two sides agreed on bilateral mechanisms to exchange information on various aspects of terrorism, including the financing of terrorism, that affect their two countries. India also offered to provide Tajikistan with counter-terrorism training. This cooperation is, however, just the tip of the iceberg. Less visible and more significant is the India-Tajik cooperation at Ayni Air Base, near the Tajik capital Dushanbe. Work on the base is expected to be completed next month, and the base will become operational by the year's end. India is constructing three hangars at Ayni, two of which will be used by Indian aircraft. India will station about 12 MiG-29 bombers there. The third hangar will be used by the Tajik air force. The Indian Air Force (IAF) is also stationing trainer aircraft under a 2002 defense-cooperation agreement whereby India has been training the Tajik air force. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #2 This is India's practical way of becoming a de facto member of the Security Council. The criteria are that you must be a major economic and nuclear military power, *and* that you must be able and willing to project those forces. From that point on, it doesn't matter if you have a seat on the UNSC, you are part of it anyway. You are a player. Even if the rest of the Security Council want to do something, they have to ask your permission first. Eventually, the major international players will probably have a joint standing army, each under their own flag, stationed at strategic points around the globe. Probably two in Africa and two in Oceania, possibly Indonesia or Malaysia. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-08-12 11:41 |
| #1 In the late 1990s, India set up a 25-bed hospital at Farkhor, near Afghanistan's northern border, where injured Northern Alliance fighters battling the Taliban were treated. It was to this Indian hospital the injured Ahmad Shah Masood was brought after the attack on 9/10. |
| Posted by: john 2006-08-12 06:43 |