Source: Indian Punchline:
Two contrasting estimations regarding the future of Afghanistan in the post-2014 scenario emerged in the region over the weekend from Moscow and New Delhi. The Russia-led Collective Security Organization [CSTO] is bracing for the apocalypse in Afghanistan following the “walkout” by the NATO forces.
Whereas, India is mulling over the great investment opportunitiesin Afghanistan, undeterred by the worrying thoughts regarding the security situation.
The CSTO secretary general General Nikolai Bordyuzha seriously doubted whether the Kabul set-up “will be able to control the situation in the country after 2014.” This was no off-the-cuff observation. In fact, he was addressing a working meeting of the CSTO Foreign Ministers in Moscow on Friday, with the full intelligence back-up that someone with the general’s seniority is entitled to receive. Bordyuzha added: “It is important for us to understand what the chances of the Taliban are to take power in Afghanistan again, and what is to be done if that happens.” He stressed that the the situation within the Afghan army and the police is “no simple one”.
Significantly, Bordyuzha flagged: “The forecast of relations between Afghanistan and its near neighbors, including Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, as well as Pakistan, is very important to us. It is expedient to evaluate the potential of the subversive and terrorist activities in Afghan territory and the possibility of its proliferation towards the CSTO borders.”
India, on the other hand, appears to be a rare country on the lonely planet raring to go to burnish the future of Afghanistan, and is already envisaging that country’s integration with South Asia along a New Silk Road.