India may join US to build farm varsity in Af

Kandahar boost

Fourteen years after suffering the ignominy of swapping terrorists for IC-814 hostages in Kandahar, India is contemplating embarking on a big project in the southern province of Afghanistan, building an agricultural university to give a boost to the farm sector of the conflict-ravaged country.

Afghanistan has proposed that India and the US could jointly set up the agricultural university in Kandahar. The proposal is likely to be discussed by senior diplomats of the three countries during the second round of India-US-Afghanistan trilateral talks in New Delhi this month.

India has already made substantial contribution in reconstruction of Afghanistan and its pledged assistance to the war-torn country has crossed the $2-billion mark, although it has not yet committed itself to any big infrastructure project in Kandahar. New Delhi has rather restricted its reconstruction efforts to small development projects in the province.

Kandahar was a Taliban stronghold before the US launched its war on terror in Afghanistan in 2002. On December 24, 1999, Pakistani militants hijacked the Indian Airlines flight IC 814 and forced the pilots to take it to Kandahar Airport, where it had been surrounded by Taliban gunmen. New Delhi had to fly three incarcerated terrorists to Kandahar and set them free to ensure safe return of the aircraft and the passengers onboard.

New Delhi had earlier evinced an interest to build an agricultural university in Afghanistan and requested Kabul to decide where it should be located.

Sources told Deccan Herald that the Afghan government recently proposed that the varsity could be set up in Kandahar and India and the US might jointly take up the project.

During US President Barack Obama’s visit to India in December 2010, New Delhi and Washington had agreed to pursue joint development projects with the Afghan government in addition to their own independent assistance programs in Afghanistan. India and the US had identified capacity building in agriculture and women’s empowerment as areas for joint projects in Afghanistan.

India’s major projects in Afghanistan include construction of a road from Zaranj to Delaram and the extension of power lines from the country’s northern to central region and to Kabul. There are two more ongoing Indian projects—construction of Afghan Parliament building in Kabul and Salma Dam Hydropower Project in Herat—in Afghanistan. Both are likely to be completed soon.