India to pay Russia to transfer weapons to Afghanistan

[mota bhai 2,675]

NEW DELHI: India has signed an agreement under which it will pay Russia to supply arms and equipment to the Afghan military as foreign combat troops prepare to leave the country.

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Under the deal, smaller arms such as light artillery and mortars will be sourced from Russia and moved to Afghanistan.

But it could eventually involve the transfer of heavy artillery, tanks and even combat helicopters that the Afghans have been asking India for since last year.

India has already been training military officers from Afghanistan, hosted a 60-member Special Forces group last year in the deserts of Rajasthan and supplied equipment such as combat vehicles and field medical support facilities.

But the decision to meet some of Afghanistan's military hardware demands – albeit sourcing them from Russia – points to a deepening role in Afghanistan aimed at preventing it from slipping back into the hands of the Taliban and other militant groups that are hostile to India.

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Alexander Golts, an independent Moscow-based defence expert, said Russia had a similar arrangement with the United States under which it had delivered Mi-17 helicopters to Afghanistan.

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Karzai's “shopping list” submitted to New Delhi last year comprised 66 items ranging from tanks to spares for Afghanistan's small fleet of helicopters. Karzai also wanted Indian instructors at the British-funded “Sandhurst in the Sand” military academy built outside Kabul to train Afghan military officers.

http://www.dawn.com/news/1103289