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  • In September 2016, India announced it would provide Afghanistan with $1 billion dollars

  • in economic aid.

  • This is far from the first time India has supported the war-torn country.

  • So why do India and Afghanistan love each other?

  • Well, India and Afghanistan were both once part of the British empire and shared a large

  • portion of their borders until the late 1940s, when India gained independence.

  • Their alliance largely began in 1979, when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.

  • India was one of the first non-communist countries to recognize Afghanistan’s new soviet-backed

  • government.

  • As Afghanistan transitioned out of soviet rule a decade later, India sent aid and supported

  • every seceding government.

  • But their relationship hit a roadblock in 1996, when the Afghan government was seized

  • by the Taliban, a violent Islamist militia.

  • India refused to recognize Taliban rule.

  • In fact, no country short of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates would

  • sanction the oppressive regime.

  • Bilateral relations worsened in March 2001, when the Taliban ordered the destruction of

  • two ancient stone buddhas.

  • As the birthplace of Buddhism, India was deeply affected, and protests ensued.

  • But since the overthrow of the Taliban and the resulting US-led war, India and Afghanistan

  • have renewed diplomatic ties.

  • In fact, you could argue that they are stronger than ever.

  • India has pledged more than $2 billion dollars in aid money to Afghanistan, and, according

  • to the government, roughly four thousand Indian personnel are carrying out aid and security

  • projects.

  • This means anything from providing electricity to building schools to training Afghan police

  • and public officials.

  • And although India has never sent its own troops into Afghanistan, it has sent paramilitary

  • forces to secure the country’s porous border with China, a shared rival.

  • As India and Afghanistan’s security ties have grown, so has their shared economy.

  • Bilateral trade between the two countries has roughly doubled in the last decade, reaching

  • more than $680 million dollars in 2015.

  • India has also invested in Afghan infrastructure, including power projects, mines, more than

  • 400 miles of roads, a bronze-domed parliament building and a hydroelectricIndia-Afghan

  • friendship dam”.

  • Today, with the US pulling troops out of Afghanistan, India is struggling to define its role in

  • the still-unstable country.

  • Their relationship is further complicated by neighboring Pakistan, which has long tried

  • to secure power over the Afghan government.

  • As a longtime rival of India, Pakistan views the country’s growing support of Afghanistan

  • with suspicion.

  • Pakistani officials even blocked any Indian goods from passing through, forcing India

  • and Afghanistan to build a port in Iran in order to continue bilateral trade.

  • This is on top of growing concern over allegations that the Pakistani government has provided

  • safe havens for terrorists.

  • With ongoing regional instability and growing distrust for their shared neighbor, India

  • and Afghanistan’s alliance may be more crucial now than ever.

  • One of the big reasons that India looks to Afghanistan as an ally is to ward off the

  • influence of Pakisan.

  • To say that India and Pakistan have issues would be putting it mildly, the two have been

  • engaged in endless conflict since they were partitioned in the 1940s.

  • So, why exactly do India and Pakistan hate each other?

In September 2016, India announced it would provide Afghanistan with $1 billion dollars

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