RELATIONS between Afghanistan and its neighbour Pakistan -- certain to be a key factor in stability in the region after US and NATO forces withdraw in 2014 -- are deteriorating seriously. The recent militant attacks on Kabul and the killing of Afghanistan's chief negotiator with the Talban have been blamed on Afghan Haqqani insurgents who operate from inside Pakistan. Into this fragile situation Afghanistan's president Hamid Karsai and the Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh have lobbed a diplomatic grenade in the form of a strategic partnership involving various forms of cooperation, many of them economic in character but crucially including a programme for the training of the Afghan army and police by Indian forces.
The timing of this agreement could not be worse as Pakistan tries to deny Afghan allegations that it is host to opponents of the Afghan government, that its intelligence services assist insurgents such as Haqqani and al-Qaeda and that it was involved in the alleged plot to assassinate President Karsai uncovered last week.
Relations between India and Pakistan are permanently on a knife edge over several issues, some going back to their independence from Britain in 1947; there is virtually no trust between them. Defending the agreement, President Karsai said that while India is a good friend of Afghanistan, Pakistan is a twin-brother. Which bond will prove to be the stronger?
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