India - Pakistan's Nemesis - Signed Defense Pact With Afghanistan

Afghanistan and Indian Leaders 

After years in which Karzai kept India at arm's length on security issues in Afghanistan, his willingness to seek military training "is a joint message he and the Americans are sending to Pakistan that, if you don't come on board and stop supporting these guerrillas, we have an option to strengthen ties with India," Amin Saikal, an Afghan political scientist at Australian National University, said yesterday in a phone interview.

India To Boost Afghanistan Ties, Irks Pakistan

Afghan President Hamid Karzai began a two-day visit to India on Tuesday that could boost the two countries' economic ties and lead to an agreement for India to train police, in a trip likely to irk Pakistan as tension grows in the region.

India is one of Afghanistan's biggest bilateral donors, having pledged about $2 billion since the 2001 U.S. led-invasion, for projects from the construction of highways to the building of the Afghan parliament.

Indian Foreign Minister S.M Krishna said on Tuesday a strategic partnership agreement would be signed, a formal tightening of links that could spark concerns in Pakistan that India is increasingly competing for influence in Afghanistan.

The agreement would be one of several being negotiated by Kabul, including one with the United States, that are part of an Afghan bid for greater security as NATO troops head home.