INDIAN DEVELOPMENT INDIA & AFGHANISTAN: A STRONG BILATERAL RELATIONSHIP COOPERATION WITH AFGHANISTAN AND THE ‘AFGHAN-INDIA
FRIENDSHIP DAM’ POLICY BRIEF
June 16, 2016
Dr Rani D Mullen Indian Development Cooperation Program, Centre for Policy Research Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani Kashyap Arora Source: www.wikimedia.org Indian Development Cooperation Program, Centre for Policy Research The age-old ties between India and Afghanistan have become the foundation of deep mutual trust between the two countries. Building on this trust and commonalities in traditional values and cultural heritage, India continues to play a crucial role in supporting Afghanistan’s journey towards progress and prosperity. Prime Minister Modi ABSTRACT during his recent address to a joint sitting of the US Congress on June 8, 2016 again emphasized India's commitment India has strengthened its ties with towards building a safe, stable, and prosperous Afghanistan, Afghanistan since 2001. A crucial facet of the referring to it as one of the US and India’s shared objectives in South Asia. India’s investments in its relationship with Indo-Afghan bilateral relationship has been Afghanistan has already paid off, since India continues to India’s extensive initiatives directed towards enjoy considerable soft power among Afghans according to the restructuring and rehabilitation of polls.1 Indian ambassador to Afghanistan Manpreet Vohra war-torn Afghanistan. Indian development was also invited to speak to the Mishrano Jirga (Afghanistan’s support continues to play a pivotal role Upper House of Parliament) on June 11, 2016. Reiterating in Afghanistan's overall socio-economic India’s commitment towards Afghanistan, Vohra said: “The development through infrastructural, development journey is very long for most countries. It is institutional, as well as human resource also a journey on which Afghanistan has now embarked. capacity building. This brief sheds light on As Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi assured Afghanistan in India’s development assistance program his speech the other day in Herat, we will be with you every step of the way." Reciprocating Vohra’s positive remarks, Fazl to Afghanistan, which is the 5th largest Hadi Muslimyar (Speaker of the Mishrano Jirga) emphasized bilateral aid program to Afghanistan and the strong India-Afghanistan bilateral ties, stating that the largest program from any country in Afghanistan wanted “further ties and friendship with India.” 2 the region. The report includes a case study of the recently inaugurated ‘Afghan-India Importantly, India is also Afghanistan’s fifth largest donor Friendship Dam’, as well as lessons from overall, in addition to being by far the largest donor in this case study on the delivery of Indian the region. Moreover, the development assistance India development cooperation projects. gives to Afghanistan is greater than the amount given to Sri Lanka or Bangladesh – both of who have traditionally received substantial development assistance from India.3 In 2011, India also became the first country to sign a Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) with Afghanistan since the Soviet invasion of 1979. This agreement shapes India’s
WWW.CPRINDIA.ORG Indian Development Cooperation with Afghanistan and the ‘Afghan-India Friendship Dam’
overall engagement with Afghanistan. It focusses on crucial cooperation in order to help Afghanistan achieve self- aspects of the India-Afghanistan partnership, including sufficiency in different sectors. In 2015, when Afghanistan provision of Indian assistance for rebuilding of Afghanistan’s was going through a transition on the political, economic infrastructure, institutions, long-term investment in and security fronts, the Indian government was quick to Afghanistan’s natural resources, promotion of Afghan reassure Afghanistan of India’s long-term support towards its exports to India, and provision of education and technical reconstruction and rehabilitation.4
Figure 1: Grants and loans committed (cumulative sum) by India towards Afghanistan
8 7 7.07 6.48 6.76 6 6.00 5 5.20 4 4.07 3 2.90 2.90 INR BILLION 2 1 0 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17
YEAR
Source: Indian Development Cooperation Research (IDCR) program at the Centre for Policy Research.
Figure 2: Map of some of the Indian development corporation initiatives in Afghanistan
Map by Brian Barnisin
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INDIA'S DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION WITH 3rd phase during Afghanistan’s Chief Executive Dr. Abdullah AFGHANISTAN visit to India from 31 January- 4 February 2016.7
India’s well-directed development programs and financial Technical Cooperation and Capacity Building support have played an instrumental role in Afghanistan's overall socio-economic development through infrastructural, Indian government has also been offering training to Afghan institutional, as well as human resource capacity building. nationals in order to foster skill development and capacity Moreover, this form of development cooperation has been building. Importantly, New Delhi’s cooperation in these further supplemented by humanitarian initiatives such avenues comprise primarily of extensive vocational training as India's food security assistance through the deliveries programs, scholarships, and other training incentives under of wheat and nutritional biscuits for school children in its crucial training programs and schemes. These training Afghanistan.5 program and schemes comprise primarily of India’s flagship Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) program, Large and Medium Scale Projects Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) scholarships under India-Afghanistan Fellowship Program, Indian Council The Indian government, in its efforts to help stabilizing for Cultural Relations (ICCR) scholarships etc. Approximately Afghanistan, has undertaken varied medium and large scale 675 training slots and 1,000 scholarships are offered annually infrastructure projects in the country. These include some to Afghan nationals under the ITEC and ICCR scholarships significant infrastructure projects, such as the construction respectively. In addition, 674 ICAR scholarships have been of the Afghan Parliament in Kabul, the Indian-built and offered annually by India since 2012-13 until 2020-21. During financed 218 km Zaranj-Delaram road (which links to 2015, the Indian government also committed to extending Afghanistan’s ring road at Delaram and to the Iranian border its ICCR scholarship scheme until 2020 and offered another at Zaranj, in turn linking at Zaranjto an Iranian highway 500 scholarships for the children of the martyrs of Afghan which connects Zaranj to the Iranian port Chabahar), a Security Forces in school and colleges both in Afghanistan 220kV DC transmission line from Pul-e-Khumri to Kabul, and and in India. Altogether, India has currently committed to the power generating Afghan-India Friendship Dam (also providing over 2,000 annual training slots and scholarships known as Salma Dam) in Herat province. Both the Afghan to Afghanistan, thereby making significant investments in Parliament and the Afghan-India Friendship Dam have technical cooperation and capacity building in the country.8 been completed in 2015, with the dam being inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi on June 4th, 2016. Furthermore, during In addition to the mentioned training and scholarship his visit to Iran in May 2016, Modi also concluded discussions slots offered towards Afghan nationals, India has also been on expanding the Iran's Chabahar port through Indian actively involved in improving Afghanistan’s education sector development financing. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani also through infrastructural development and also through active traveled to Iran during the same time, solely for the purpose participation from both civil society and private sector as of signing a trilateral agreement with India and Iran for the well. Crucial examples of this kind of participation include development of Chabahar port. This port will serve as a hub operation of Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) of transit goods to Afghanistan and Central Asia and will which has been active in Afghanistan since 2008, providing connect India with Western Asia.6 training to more than 3,000 Afghan women in areas such as sewing and food processing along with Pune-based Sarhad Small Development Projects (SDPs) Scheme which has sponsored educational exchanges including provision of scholarships for Afghan students to study in A crucial feature of India’s development cooperation with India. Afghanistan has been its Small Development Projects (SDPs) scheme. Through this scheme, Indian government Further, with respect to financing of Afghanistan’s has undertaken (or committed to) more than 200 projects educational infrastructure, Indian government has always with short gestation periods in diverse fields including been at the forefront. Among the initial few projects public health, education, community infrastructure undertaken by India in the post-Taliban Afghanistan was the development, agriculture, vocational training etc. The SDP reconstruction of Habibia School in Kabul in 2003. These scheme has been carried out in three phases, with the Indian were further followed by multiple infrastructural projects Government approving 92 projects at the beginning of the in Afghan’s education sector including crucial large scale
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undertakings such as the as the Afghanistan National Nehru Chair of Indian Studies at Kabul University. Indian Agricultural Science and Technology University, which government has also shown commitment towards setting opened in February 2014, with Indian investment of up to up of National Agricultural University (NAU), by initial US$ 8 million along with the establishment of a Jawaharlal construction and training assistance for the project.9
Figure 3: Composition of training programs and scholarship offered by Indian government to Afghanistan (2010/11-2015/16)
2500
2000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 593 1500
1000 675 675 674 674 674 674 674 25 25 25 25 25 500 675 675 675 675 675 675 675 Number Number of slots/scholarships 0 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Year ITEC TCS Colombo Plan ICAR ICCR Capacity for Afghan Public Administration (CAP) programme
Source: Indian Development Cooperation Research (IDCR) program at the Centre for Policy Research.
Figure 4: Percentage of Indian development assistance to Afghanistan allocated towards the Afghan-Indian Friendship Dam
2016-17
2015-16
2014-15
2013-14
Year 2012-13
2011-12
2010-11
2009-10
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 in INR billion
Amount committed in the Union budget towards Salma Dam Project Total amount committed in the Union budget towards Afghanistan
Source: Indian Development Cooperation Research (IDCR) program at the Centre for Policy Research.
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Figure 5: Comparison between the budgetary commitment and final expenditure on the Afghan-India Friendship Dam project
2.5 1.82 1.92 1.86 2.0
1.5 0.85 1.03 1.0 0.75 in INR billion 0.5
0.0 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 Year
Amount committed in the Union budget towards Salma Dam Project Final expenditure towards the Salma dam project
Source: Indian Development Cooperation Research (IDCR) program at the Centre for Policy Research.
CASE STUDY: AFGHAN-INDIA FRIENDSHIP DAM this again was plagued by the problem of transportation of the explosive materials into Afghanistan, as Iran declined A significant undertaking on the part of the Indian the request for transportation of these explosives through government has been the construction of the Salma Dam their territory. It was only after assistance from the Herat's on Heray Rud river in the Chishti Sharif District of Herat powerful warlord and veteran Mujahedeen leader named Province in western Afghanistan at a cost of INR 1,775 crore Ismail Khan that India was able to bring these explosive (US$ 290 million). The 107 meter high and half a kilometer through a local company from Central Asia.14 long dam was renamed the Afghan-India Friendship Dam by the Afghan government in August 2015.10 It holds great In addition to this, there were also talks of opposition from significance for the transformation of Herat's agricultural Iran with regards to the construction of the Salma Dam, and industrial sector and for the overall economy of the raising concerns as early as in 2005. Meanwhile, with the Western Provinces due to its immense irrigation and security situation deteriorating over the years, Indian electricity benefits.11 It is expected that upon operation, the project engineers, staff and the supervisors feared for their dam will generate around 42 MW of power, which will help lives -- another issue which the Indian government had in electrification of more than 2.5 lakh homes and provide to deal with. However, security threats were not the only self-sufficiency for powering of Herat's growing industrial thing on the plate. Indian officials had to constantly engage needs. It has also been designed to irrigate around 80,000 with problems pertaining to rising costs and a shortage hectares of agricultural land, covering fields in 640 villages.12 of funds arising from a lack of budgetary funds allocated to the Ministry of External Affairs by the Government of However, construction of this friendship dam, which was India in last few years. There were instances when the work approved by the Indian government back in 2004 with a came to a complete standstill, such as in 2013-14, when commitment of US$ 80 million, has not been a smooth the project was stopped during the last two months of the sailing.13 It was constantly haunted by security issues, cost year due to a three-year delay by the Government of India overruns, and transportation problems, which eventually in giving approval to the revised project costs. This further resulted in multiple completion delays. The first big led to multiple delays in the project completion date with roadblock came within a few days from the initiation of the deadlines being pushed from December 2008 to December project when WAPCOS (project manager) report turned 2010, then January 2015 to July 2015 and finally June 2016. In out to be incorrect and in contrary to the report, only 1/3 addition to this, the final costing of the project also turned to of the mentioned river-bed material was possible to be be more than 4 times its original cost estimate of INR 351.87 extracted. Thus, the only solution left with the contractor crore (approx. US$76.7 at July 2004 exchange rate).15 was to to blow up the mountains for rock quarry. However,
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LEARNING THE RIGHT LESSONS FROM THE AFGHAN- as can be seen from the 1,500 Indian and Afghan official INDIA FRIENDSHIP DAM COMPLETION working on the dam project). The three year work undertaken on the construction of the dam by India’s public- The delivery of crucial Indian development assistance sector Water and Power Consulting Corporation to assist projects in Afghanistan, such as the Afghan-India Friendship Afghanistan in developing its indigenous capability before Dam, has added prestige to India's reputation as a handing over the dam to the Afghan government, is also development partner. Yet, as this case-study illustrates, illustrative of the expanded responsibilities Indian public Indian development assistance needs to improve on the sector companies are taking on by getting involved in the overall delivery of development assistance projects. The delivery of Indian development assistance projects.16 Indian building of the Afghan-India Friendship Dam is a good case development assistance to Afghanistan is significant for its for analysis and learning, since other projects have been size, its lower costs (especially when compared to traditional plagued by the same problems of cost overruns, inadequate donors like the US, UK and Germany), its demand-driven MEA budgetary allocation, and overall project delays. approach, and because it builds on a close bilateral There are also positive lessons to learn from this project, relationship between the two countries. It is, however, also including India’s engagement with the local community, important to take stock of India’s development assistance understanding of the local politics, the project team’s engagement in Afghanistan in order to improve the overall problem solving nature, and the dedication of the Indian costs and timely delivery of India’s foreign aid. government officials in working together with Afghanistan,
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