India(With Russian support) Reportedly Basing Helicopters, Fighter Jets In Tajikistan

[Vehl]

India Reportedly Basing Helicopters, Fighter Jets In Tajikistan
December 14, 2011 - 11:33am, by Joshua Kucera

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The gate to the Ayni air base outside Dushanbe: what's going on inside?

India is quietly using the Ayni air base in Tajikistan, hosting a contingent of helicopters and fighter jets in cooperation with Russia, an Indian journalist reports. Saurav Jha, writing in World Politics Review , while the Tajikistan government has denied that it would allow anyone but Russia to use the base, the truth is otherwise

However, an Indian official directly involved in renovating the airfield told World Politics Review that an Indian air force contingent, including Indian Mi-17 helicopters and leased Russian fighter jets, is currently deployed to the base under joint Indo-Tajik control. The Russian equipment will be maintained by Russian contractors, creating “a sort of joint control over these assets.” His comments echo recent reports of negotiations between the three parties for joint use of the base.

India, Tajikistan and Russia are in negotiations on the joint use of the Ayni Air Base, close to the Tajik capital Dushanbe which is set to acquire strategic significance after US withdrawal from Afghanistan, sources said...

When asked if India was a partner in the use of the base, Antony(India's Defense Minister) merely described Ayni as the best air base in entire Central Asia.

more here
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/64694

I find this news Quite Significant.

It seems to me that Russia, India and the other Central Asian nations have taken for granted that the NATO forces will pull up the stakes and leave in the near future...leaving the Afghan Government facing an ever belligerent Taliban and its backers.

The stakes are high for the Russia, Central Asian countries and India. If Afghanistan falls to the Taliban again, it would be used as a base of Operations against these countries by terrorists.(As was the case before 911). Russia would loath to see the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in its neighboring Central Asian countries. Apparently these countries seem to have buckled in for a the long haul in Afghanistan..albeit probably in a less overt manner(compared to the current NATO presence)


Some important points to note

1 Russia/CA/India countries have direct supply routes to Afghanistan through Russia/Tajikistan and other central Asian nations...no need to supply through Pakistan

2 A secondary route through Iran is being built by India.
This was low key thus escaped MSM attention. Already a 130 Mile long Highways/Railways connecting Mineral rich regions of Afghanistan with Iranian border has been complete by the Indian Army Engineers. Iran on its end will build one from It's Chabahar port to link up with the India's Afghan Highway. Afghanistan, being a landlocked country was till now dependent on trading with the rest of the world through Pakistan, its hostile neighbor...which will change when this highway/railroad becomes operational next year.

more details of the Highway here
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2238645

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3 The Ayni airbase is near the Afghn border, and puts all of Afghanistan within an hour's flight time.
4 The Farkour Airbase, another base where Indian fighters are being based is literally 1 mile from the Afghan border.

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5 Russia and India helped the Northern Alliance survive the Taliban years (till 911) and to this day train hundreds of ANA (Afghan national army) officers in their military academies. Hamid kharzai and many of the top leaders lived in India during the Taliban years...thus both countries now have very close ties.


My conclusion?
Be prepared to see those three countries backing the Afghan Army with supplies training and heavy air support against its war with the Taliban after the departure of NATO. At stake here is not only the stability and survival of Afghanistan/central Asian countries...but also the Trillions worth of resources. Expect to see this coalition muscle out any Chinese attempt to gain a foothold in this region in a post NATO era.

[Old and In the Way]

1. Informative Post! Few can understand what the real goal of our continued presence is in Afghanistan

other than to control the resources there. Seems like the people of Afghanistan are cursed with the richness of natural resources that all developed nations seem to want an overt stake in.

One suggestion, an article like this might be better located in the Foreign Affairs topic forum. It will probably sink rapidly in the GD forum, but will have longer term visibility in that group. You might want to cross post it as there cannot be too many good, informative threads about the strategic implications to what's happening in Central Asia.

[Vehl]

6. thanks!

Didn't realize that there was a Foreign Affairs topic forum. I thought Ill post it in Gen Discussion cos i didn't think this deserved a breaking news thread...and Gen discussion seemed to be the place where people discussed everything and anything

[Old and In the Way]

7. There are benefits to posting in both places.

You obviously get lots of eyes and probably more comments in GD, initially...but posts there tend to sink like a rock from the sheer weight of new posts being added. By also posting in the Foreign Affairs, it will probably be more readily viewable to those that read the forum. Of course, should things heat up in that region, DUers might go searching the FA forum to see if they can glean more background information to help understand the present situation.

[dipsydoodle]

2. All sounds good to me

.

[Arctic Dave]

3. Impressive.

Dividing the work load to divide the spoils?

[Vehl]

5. seems like it, but i guess they are more worried of Taliban coming into power

Before 911, and before Afghanistan and the taliban became household names in the US, India, Russia and Central Asian countries have been facing attacks by Taliban and taliban-trained terrorists for years. They don't want Afghanistan going back to that old state again in a post NATO(in afghanistan) era

[Vehl]

4. India to train and equip 30000 ANA(Afghan National Army) Officers and soldiers.

..
..
But thousands of miles away, plans are already in the final stages of receiving Indian government clearance for an extensive training schedule for the fledgling Afghan National Army (ANA) at training institutions across the country.

The program is the first concrete follow-up on military-to-military cooperation under the umbrella of the Strategic Partnership Agreement that was signed between Kabul and New Delhi in October, when Afghan President Hamid Karzai was given a grand reception in India.

Under the agreement, India, which has the world’s third-largest army, agreed to train, equip and build the capacity of the Afghan forces.
..
more here
http://the-diplomat.com/2011/12/07/india-boosts-afghan-military-role/comment-page-1/#comments

India plans to train 20,000-30,000 Afghan National Army (ANA) personnel, including about 500 officers, at facilities around the country over the next three years.

Under a bilateral strategic partnership agreed during President Hamid Karzai's visit to New Delhi in October, India is also likely to provide the ANA with small arms such as locally developed 5.56 mm assault rifles and, possibly, later transfer heavier weaponry such as rocket launchers, light artillery and even retrofitted Soviet T-55 tanks that the Indian Army is retiring.
and here

http://www.janes.com/products/janes/defence-security-report.aspx?id=1065931855

This news tallies with the other developments in this region, like the one mentioned in the thread topic.

Important developments regarding the strategic partnership agreement Afghanistan Signed with India on October(The first and only Strategic partnership signed by Afghanistan with any nation) include but are not limited to the following



1 Training of 30 000 ANA Officers and Men in India (they will be flown to India for training)

They will be primarily be focusing on three areas
a) Increasing the intake of ANA officers in India's premier training institutes
b) Providing specialized training to middle and higher level officers already operating in the ANA
c) Training soldiers and officers in COIN(counter insurgency and counter terrorist) operations by seconding them to various regimental centers across India.

2 Military planners have assessed that the mid level officers in the ANA need to be "reoriented" and given the training required to assume leadership positions in a Post-NATO Afghanistan.

Officers ranking from Lt.Colonel to Brigadier will be provided focused training at three specialized institutions
a) Commando School in Belgaum in south India
b) Counter-insurgency and Jungle Warfare(CIJW) School in Mizoram, northeast India
c) High Altitude warfare School in Sonamarg, Kashmir

3 An important and rather interesting development is that company level(100 men) contingents of ANA men and officers will be Embedded with Indian Regiments in their regimental centers. In other words they will be receiving the same training any Indian Army Platoon receives in those respective regimental centers and function as part of the Indian army for the duration of their training. This training will last about 8 months and Immersion is considered an important part of this training, as the 100 men will be forced to fight and train as a team.

4 India has decided to double vacancies for fresh Afghan officer Recruits in three of the nation's most prestigious military institutions, the IMA(Indian military Academy Dehra Dun) and the Officer Training institutes of Chennai&Gaya.

5 Additionally there is a secret component to this training which involves the training of ANA by select intelligence officers of the Indian Army's Military Intelligence Training School. Already a few dozen have completed this six month course and more are undergoing training

6 India has decided to supply vehicles, information technology and sports equipment. Jane's defense also says India is planning to arm the ANA with small arms at first, and later with heavy weapons...even Tanks which have been retired from the Indian army.

7 However, apart from advisors and some intelligence officers India has decided not to put any boots on the ground in Afghanistan.

According to (ret) Lt. Gen Ravi Sawhney, one of the first officers to establish contact with Afghanistan’s Northern Alliance in the 90s

“There’s no advantage in doing so(putting boots on the ground), since India doesn’t have any direct land access to that country,” he says. “Our strength is the quality of training troops, and India is doing the right thing by concentrating on this aspect.


This news dovetails with the reports of how India and Russia are basing fighter jets and helicopters in Central Asian countries bordering Afghanistan. Seems to me that they are adamant to ensure that the post NATO Afghanistan will not fall to the Taliban yet again. imho its a good thing...allowing the Afghan themselves to stand on their own feet, rather than being dependent on foreign boots on their ground.

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Yet another contingent of ANA officers graduate from IMA