India Stepping Up to the Plate in Afghanistan

India Stepping Up to the Plate in Afghanistan | The Diplomat:
"The reason behind that rethink is fairly simple: the winds of change that are blowing this year in Afghanistan. The ISAF is winding down its presence and a new president is about to be elected in the country’s first democratic transfer of power. These transitions have prompted Afghanistan’s neighbors to accelerate their thinking about the future of the region. India has frequently expressed a desire to see the emergence of a strong, stable and independent Afghanistan. With foreign forces no longer taking the lead role, the only way to ensure stability in Afghanistan – and by extension in the region – is to help increase the capabilities of its young army. Other interests are also at stake. Any economic assistance provided by India to Afghanistan would be stripped of meaning if the latter was not strong enough to defend the products of the assistance. Moreover, India needs Afghanistan to be able to defend the former’s business investments, stalled for nearly three years."
H/T Pan Asian Anchor