Will Modi Govt Protect Its Allies & Investments

 From education to healthcare and dam and highway, India has delivered big time in Afghanistan. However, the security of its investments seems to be called into question as the Taliban continues to make rapid advances. A quick look at development projects undertaken by New Delhi.  

Salma Dam 

The Salma Dam is a hydropower and irrigation project located in Afghanistan’s Herat province. It was inaugurated in 2016 and completed under major constraints. It is popularly known as the Afghan-India Friendship Dam and is a symbol of Indo-Afghan bilateral relations. In the past few weeks, the Taliban have mounted offensives near the dam, during the course of which, many security personnel were killed. The Taliban also claim control of areas around the Salma Dam.

 

Zaranj-Delaram Highway

The $150-million project was built by India’s Border Roads Organisation. The 218-km long Zaranj-Delaram highway, which lies in proximity to the Afghanistan-Iran border, stretches from the Khash Rud river-Delaram-northeast of Zaranj.

The highway proceeds to connect to a ring road, which links to Kandahar in the south, Ghazni and Kabul in the east, Mazar-i-Sharif in the north, and Herat in the west.

This highway is of utmost strategic interest to India and has been constructed through the collective efforts of 300 Indian engineers and construction workers in collaboration with their Afghan counterparts.

Eleven Indians and 129 Afghans had lost their lives during the construction. Six Indians were killed in terrorist attacks and the other five lost their lives in accidents. The highway provides an alternative route to the landlocked country following Islamabad’s denial of overland access to New Delhi for trade with Kabul.

India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar addressed the Geneva Conference last year about how India transported 75,000 tonnes of wheat to Afghanistan through Chabahar.