Do US and India plan to deploy Joint troops in Afghanistan?

NewsDo US and India plan to deploy Joint troops in Afghanistan?

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The United States and India for the first time in history will go for tri-service (military exercises) drills in November 2019.

The military drills will include the Indian and US air, navy and ground forces which will jointly engage in combating pseudo terrorists and enemies of both countries.

The US and India though are yet to confirm venues of such exercises, but they can be in the Indian Ocean somewhere near to Pakistan and Indian waters.

There is a perception among Indian regional experts that such joint exercises will help India and the US forces to know each other well and to collaborate for their future joint deployment in Afghanistan from where the US wishes to pull out but not completely. India in past rejected the US idea to help Afghanistan with foot soldiers but accepted some projects of reconstruction in Afghanistan. Without having a part of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), India has been involved in the reconstruction process in Afghanistan.

There are chances that the US President Donald Trump and the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi may discuss the issue of joint deployment of Indian soldiers in Afghanistan along with the US troops during their forthcoming meeting.

If such situation arises, it would not be acceptable for Pakistan, and Islamabad would face pressure at its western border which is already not calm since long.

On September 22, Donald Trump and Narendra Modi addressed a gathering of Indian Americans at “Howdy Modi” event in Houston and both of them made emotional speeches which gave a very clear message to the world in general and Pakistan in particular.

The Indian media believes that the United States under Trump supports and endorses all policies of Indian Prime Minister Modi including in Jammu & Kashmir, and that the world will witness an unprecedented cooperation between the two countries in times to come. This cooperation may have feature of joint deployment of Indian forces in Afghanistan when and wherever needed by the United States in the future.

Must read

Advertisement