India To Train 30,000 Afghan Troops

As United States finalises its plan to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, Indian authorities are getting ready to train nearly 30,000 Afghan troops in the next three years. The US has urged other countries to join hands with it to train Afghan troops, which will take over the duties of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's forces after they leave in 2014. Incidentally, though the Pakistan government had expressed its interest in training Afghan troops, the US chose to approach India instead.
According to a report in Jane's Defence Weekly, nearly 30,000 Afghan troops will be trained in north and east India, as per the agreement signed between the two nations a couple of months ago.
India has played a large role in strengthening the infrastructure of the war-torn country by assisting in the construction of roads, power plants and buildings.
Sources say that India had expressed a keen interest in training Afghan soldiers as it is wary of the preparedness of the latter to combat forces like Taliban and terrorism, after the withdrawal of NATO soldiers.
An unstable Afghanistan in the wake of the NATO troop withdrawal will spell doom for India, warn security experts. New Delhi will then have to contend with tackling terror threats from Islamabad as well as Kabul.
Pakistan has earlier accused India of pursuing a hidden agenda through its developmental activities in Afghanistan. It has often claimed that India wants to expand its presence there to have a strategic advantage against Pakistan as well as in central and south Asia.