Yes Mr Trump, a library can achieve in Afghanistan what yours troops & guns could not in 17 years
New Delhi, Jan 3: US President Donald Trump is known for his bizarre words and moves. On Wednesday, January 2, Trump mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for setting up a library in Afghanistan, saying he had no idea who was going to use it in the war-ravaged nation. The president also said that he wanted the regional powers around Afghanistan like India, Pakistan and Russia fight the Taliban. In 2017, too, Trump had expressed a similar wish, saying India should play a bigger role in Afghanistan and his words made Pakistan hysterical on that occasion.
Trump's latest suggestion for India is as hollow as it was in 2017. India has taken the right approach in Afghanistan by making use of its softer influence in the country's rebuilding from the ashes. It might be too difficult for Trump to comprehend that a library could go a long way to put things in order instead of troops and hardware that the US has been assembling in Afghanistan for almost two decades now but to no avail. Before mocking India, the US president should have understood that it is because of the soft approaches that a country like India has taken that rebuilding of institutions in Afghanistan has been possible. Compare India's approach with that of Pakistan in Afghanistan which has only saw issues getting more complicated.
Trump's job ends with withdrawing his own troops; he need not lecture on what to be done after that
Trump, who recently spoke in favour of reducing American troops from Afghanistan, clearly aims for a scenario where others take over the fight in Afghanistan so that Washington can save its own money. As far as withdrawing troops from the countries that the US invaded over the past decades that got it nothing, it is a right move for Washington has no business remaining in other countries and fight alien wars. But Trump will do himself and his country a service by stopping articulating his future plans there. Asking India, Pakistan and Russia to jointly fight Taliban when the last two countries are clearly in support of them shows the US president has a very brittle understanding of things on the ground. Moreover, asking India and Pakistan to jointly fight Taliban is akin to day-dreaming and the mercurial US president doesn't understand that.
India has never involved herself military in other lands
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India will never involve itself militarily in Afghanistan given a choice. If India makes itself a direct party to the military conflict in Afghanistan post US withdrawal, it will only endanger its western borders. India can't expect the US to shield its interests in Afghanistan through a continued military presence for sure but there is no point either to plunge into the chaos believing that it would help India's own security interests in Afghanistan. India has been doing perfectly well by playing a soft player in Afghanistan and can't really replace Pakistan in Kabul's affairs since as the immediate neighbour, Islamabad has a far bigger role to play there. Also, it has not been India's international stance historically to send troops to other countries.
Trump is clearly trying to flee the battlefield now at the expense of putting others in trouble.