India made its mark in Afghanistan through cricket, education and health. Pakistan is not even close to Afghanistan.
 |
| Photo (https://unsplash.com/photos/eZyOw4hxnHQ) |
Afghanistan has always been a playground for international politics. Different nations have fought ideological and strategic battles on this ground from time to time to maintain their control over the game. Although the players of this game keep changing from time to time, it is not only hard power that is used in this game. Softpower has sometimes been used to win this strategic game in Afghanistan. Comparing India and Pakistan in this game, the tilt seems to be always on India's side. India has undoubtedly established its influence in Afghanistan by beating Pakistan in this race.
Afghanistan is known for its geo-strategic importance and immense natural resources. But India and Pakistan are also looking forward to strengthening their ties with Afghanistan for a number of reasons. Stability in Afghanistan is important for regional, national security and stability in India and Pakistan. Having our influence in Afghanistan is a matter of increasing their strategic importance from the perspective of both nations.
In order to gain a prominent place in the world superpowers and establish regional dominance, India needs to establish dominance in South Asia. That is why India has a long history of art, culture, music, cinema, etc. It continues to grow its influence through softpower.
In line with its softpower strategy, India has focused on strengthening cultural and strategic ties to win the 'hearts and minds' of Afghanistan. Its core purpose is Afghan nation-building and political stability. According to some, India's real motive behind all this is to become a regional hegemony or a world superpower. Of course, there is no denying that this emphasis on soft power has benefited India in gaining confidence and support in Afghanistan. However, shocked by India's success, Pakistan is worried about India-Afghanistan relations.
Although Pakistan wants to sway India to its side by reducing India's influence, its narrow-mindedness has failed it. Pakistan is the geographical neighbor of Afghanistan. Also today, historical, cultural, religious, ethnic, linguistic and trade relations naturally connect Pakistan with Afghanistan. Yet Pakistan has failed to strengthen its ties with Afghanistan by taking advantage of these fronts. Pakistan has always focused on military and hard power and has neglected to formulate its international policy through soft power such as arts, culture and education.
More importantly, the presence of various terrorist and extremist groups in Pakistan and the support he has received from the Pakistani government is well known today. This fact is suicidal for Pakistan and has become a major cause of tarnishing Pakistan's image in other nations. Afghanistan also has an idea of these black acts of Pakistan. Therefore, India has more influence in Afghanistan than Pakistan and has more support for Indian soft power.
India's participation and contribution to the development of cricket in Afghanistan has been an important tool in building its influence there. Ironically, cricket in Afghanistan began in a refugee camp in Pakistan for those fleeing the Soviet war in the 1980s. Cricket was widely accepted by the Afghan people. But they had a lot of difficulties in the development of this game. They were hit by a lack of funding and proper infrastructure. Helped India immensely to overcome these difficulties. Not only that, but as an alternative to the unrest in Afghanistan, the Afghan team chose India as their home ground.
India hosted the 'India-Afghanistan Friendly Match' in Bangalore last year. The match was a milestone for Afghan cricket and strengthened India-Afghanistan ties. India gave a warm welcome to the Afghan team and gave them a warm welcome. Not only that, due to lack of stadiums in Afghanistan, India declared Greater Noida Stadium as the official training facility for Afghanistan. Also recently, Dehradun listed it as the second home ground of the Afghanistan cricket team.
In addition to funding the construction of a stadium in Kandahar, the Indian government has also provided training and technical facilities to the Afghan cricket team. With the help of cricket, India has not only built a team in Afghanistan but also strengthened its ties with Afghanistan. Although Pakistan is a close neighbor of Afghanistan and has started Afghan cricket, Pakistan has not been able to build strong ties with Afghanistan. So here India won.
The relationship between Bollywood and Afghanistan is very old. This has created a relationship between the people on both sides that would not have been possible even with the efforts of any government. With the society exploited by the brutal rule of the Taliban, Afghans feel close to the protagonist who revolts against injustice in Bollywood films and is filled with extraordinary abnormalities. The ideas shown in Bollywood movies and the lifestyle shown in them fascinate the Afghan people. Stories like Kabuliwala, written by Rabindranath Tagore, underscore the cultural ties between India and Afghanistan and further strengthen the ties between the two nations. Indian films have always been in high demand in Afghanistan.
Bollywood has always portrayed Afghans and especially Pathans as 'good people'. Be it the movie 'Chhaliya' which shows Pathan sacrificing his life to protect a girl or the movie 'Zanjeer' which shows him as a friend who wakes up. This depiction also shows the place of the Afghan people in the minds of India. Films like Dharmatma, Kabul Express, Khuda Gawah have also been shot in Afghanistan which has further increased the popularity of Indian films here.
The films have forged new bonds of friendship between India and the Afghan people. These films are reminiscent of the similarities between India and Afghanistan. According to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Bollywood's impact in Afghanistan is greater than the potential for millions of dollars. This shows the profound effect of Bollywood's soft power on winning the hearts and minds of Afghanistan. Pakistan too could have gained the trust of Afghanistan by using its cultural ties and entertainment sector. Here again, Pakistan lags behind in giving priority to hard power over soft power.
India has been a major contributor to educational development in Afghanistan. The education sector in Afghanistan lacks infrastructure, gender inequality and a shortage of trained teachers. India has always been trying to solve these problems. India has given many scholarships to Afghan students. Through it, thousands of Afghans are studying in India today. Vocational education and skills development classes are also being provided to Afghan women and youth. India is currently redeveloping Habibia Secondary School in Afghanistan. The cost of this project is more than 10 lakh US dollars. Through educational development, India also sought to establish ties with the ethnic communities in Afghanistan. This relationship was especially important with the Pashtun community living on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, which serves as a buffer between India and Pakistan.
Another important contribution of India is in the health and medical sector in Afghanistan. India has provided US ५० 5 million for the treatment of congenital heart disease in children through the 'Afghan Red Society Program'. Medical tourism has become a major venture between India and Afghanistan which has enhanced the interaction between the people of both the nations. New Delhi relaxed its visa policy for Afghan patients in 2014 due to the lack of medical care available to them. Foreign patients are welcomed and fully co-operated in private as well as government hospitals. There is also an arrangement to communicate with the hospital staff with the help of different bilinguals. Also some staff are also trained to communicate in international languages.
India's hospitality and reception has led to an increase in the number of patients coming here from Afghanistan. At the same time, the number of Afghan patients visiting Pakistan has declined. Due to Pakistan's strict border management policy, as well as strict visa policy for Afghan citizens and continuous security checks, Afghans have stopped receiving medical services from Pakistan. More importantly, even though the prices of medical services are rising in India today, these prices are more expensive in Pakistan than in India. Therefore, India's completely liberal policy in the medical field is attracting Afghan citizens, which is also forging closer ties between the two nations.
It is clear that the use of soft power instead of hard power has greatly benefited India in its relations with Afghanistan. This proves that soft power plays an important role in developing friendly relations and political relations with nations. This is why India's potential cannot be ignored in the future. This does not mean that hardpower should be completely ignored. Certainly achieving the goal requires a balance and consolidation of hard and soft power. Pakistan needs to understand this. If they want to establish stable relations with Afghanistan, they need to use soft power instead of hard power and military tactics.
Post a Comment