Vaibhav Chadha
On June 4, 2016 Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ashraf Ghani jointly inaugurated the
Afghan- India Friendship dam (Salma Dam) on the river Hari Rud in western Herat region of Afghanistan which borders with Iran. The dam was built with the Indian aid of $300 million, the construction of which began in 2006. Originally built in 1976, Salma Dam was damaged during the period of Afghan civil war. Afghan-India Friendship dam can generate electricity of 42 MW and can irrigate 75,000 hectares of land. On the occasion of inaugurating the dam, PM Modi also gave a speech which won the hearts of millions of Afghan people. PM Modi said, “This dam has not been built by bricks & mortar, but by faith of our friendship and valour of Afghans & Indians”. He further stated
“Khwaja Moiunuddin Chishti, the first of the Chishti saints in India, said that human beings must have the affection of the sun, the generosity of the river and the hospitality of the earth. He not only had the magnificent landscape of his ancestral land in mind, he could also be describing the Afghan people. So, when I came to Kabul in December, in the warmth of your welcome, I saw the kindness of your heart. In your clear eyes, I saw the deep well of affection for India. In your smiles, I saw the joy of this relationship. In the firmness of your embrace, I felt the trust in our friendship. And, in those memorable hours, India witnessed once again the grace of your people, the beauty of this land and the friendship of a nation. Today, I return with the gratitude and admiration of 1.25 billion people. And, a renewed pledge for our partnership”. It was PM Modi’s second official visit to Afghanistan. Last year in December PM Modi inaugurated the new Afghan parliament building in Kabul which was also funded by India.“Today, we come together to make eternal India Afghan ties and friendship. This Dam will chart a new course of cooperation and Prosperity….contrary to those who spread chaos and destruction, we two countries have taken the joint decision to build and grow”, said Ashraf Ghani at the inaugural event.
As per a report in Afghanistan times, “In August 2015, thousands of people assembled in the Herat Stadium to celebrate the progress of work on the dam. The ceremony was appropriately named ‘Jashn-e-Noor-e-Gandom’ (celebrations of light and wheat). People performed Attan, the national dance of Afghanistan, and presented a bouquet of flowers to the Indian Consulate staff as a token of appreciation for India’s development assistance to Afghanistan….As a tribute to the growing friendship between the two neighboring countries, the Afghan government later decided to rechristen the dam as the Afghanistan-India Friendship Dam. The decision was taken during a meeting of the council of ministers in Kabul in August 2015.”
Modi regime is making all efforts to win the hearts of the Afghan people which may infuriate both the Pakistan Army and the ISI. During the previous regime of Hamid Karzai, relations between both India and Afghanistan were friendly, but with Ashraf Ghani coming at the helm of the Government in 2014 relations between the two nations became somewhat standoffish as Ghani made his maiden visit to Islamabad and New Delhi had to wait till April 2015 for his visit. But soon after Kabul attacks Ghani accused Pakistan of backing Taliban. “We hoped for peace but we are receiving messages of war from Pakistan. We can no longer see our people bleeding in a war that is exported from outside”, he said. With attacks like the Kabul Attack, people of Afghanistan continue to lose their loved ones in such violence. The normal life of the people in the country has been marred by activities of Taliban. And at such time we see India giving a helping hand to Kabul by fulfilling its infrastructural requirements such as Parliament, dam…etc. Also recently India signed a transit agreement with Iran to develop Chabahar port, which will bypass Pakistan and give India and Afghanistan access to Central Asia. “Our people identify India with roads, dams and over 200 small developmental projects”, said Ghani at the inauguration of the Afghan-India Friendship dam. With this we can say it is Achhe din for the people of Afghanistan and New Delhi-Kabul relations.
(Writer is Research Associate, SPMRF)