INDIA'S AFGAN STRATEGY: REVISITING KAUTILIYA

This article analyzes India's contemporary strategy in Afghanistan through the ancient and influential lens of Kautilya's Arthashastra. It examines the key elements of India's post-2001 engagement in Afghanistan, which has been centered on a "soft power" approach of providing extensive development and reconstruction assistance. The study argues that this strategy can be understood by "revisiting Kautilya," the classical Indian strategist who advocated for a multi-pronged statecraft that combines diplomacy, aid, and intelligence, with the use of force as a last resort. The research explores how India's strategy in Afghanistan, which aims to build goodwill and to create a friendly and stable western frontier, aligns with the Kautilyan principle of securing one's neighborhood and balancing against one's rival (in this case, Pakistan). The paper concludes that India's approach to Afghanistan represents a modern application of a long-standing tradition of Indian strategic thought.

India's extensive engagement in post-Taliban Afghanistan has been a cornerstone of its post-Cold War foreign policy. This paper provides a unique analytical perspective on this strategy by interpreting it through the classical realist framework of Kautilya's Arthashastra. The study begins by outlining the key tenets of Kautilyan statecraft, particularly its emphasis on the "mandala" theory of concentric circles of friends and enemies, where the neighbor's neighbor is a natural ally. The core of the article is an argument that India's Afghanistan policy is a textbook application of this principle. It analyzes how India has sought to cultivate Afghanistan as a friendly power on the western flank of its primary rival, Pakistan, thereby gaining "strategic depth." The paper details the specific instruments of this policy, which have been overwhelmingly non-military. It provides a comprehensive overview of India's massive development assistance program in Afghanistan, which has funded the construction of roads, power lines, and even the new Afghan parliament building. The paper argues that this "soft power" approach is a form of strategic investment, designed to win the "hearts and minds" of the Afghan people and to create a long-term strategic partnership. The findings suggest a remarkable continuity in Indian strategic thinking, where the ancient principles of Kautilya continue to provide a relevant and powerful framework for understanding and practicing foreign policy in the 21st century.