India should resist dictation of its policy by people who don’t understand poverty, deprivation and whose value system is possible to compromise. It needs to find someone good, in fact very good men to run the show. They should be persons devoid of the urge to take centre stage, people of high integrity not only to India but also to Afghanistan, know tenets of sub conventional warfare, have thorough understanding of Afghan conflict and should be unbiased and fair in their lives. What’s best is a dedicated Afghanistan department directly under PMO comprising persons of integrity to coordinate all activities of Afghanistan oriented policies of various ministries. Integrating good military men who have worked through insurgencies and who have been trained well in international affairs will be good idea. Similarly only people of action from various ministries specially foreign affairs should find a place. Chair-bound people working from plush AC offices are best restricted to easier, safer and better parts of the world.

India should use its vast Muslim populace to be part of Afghan development work so that religion can never be used as a card by opponents of good Indian intentions. India’s vast liberal Muslim population should become fulcrum of change in the world and let Afghanistan be the start point. India has enough Kalams, Amirs, Shahrukhs who can make a lot of difference to ground situation and let India make them count in its foreign policy. As a rule it should keep hawks away from the process. Time and again history has proved that their role in process of reconciliation is always negative. We have examples of treaties and post conflict hawk dominated disasters like treaty of Versailles and more recently post 9/11 freed Afghanistan.

India also need to learn to give magnanimously. It shouldn’t involve private players straight away. Let us face it, private players are required to maximise profits and this is straight loss to Afghans. The middle path of government controlled PPP models should be evolved to develop Afghanistan but not at the cost of Afghanis and value system which India need to portray. If not done properly India will end up same way as US which in-spite of sinking billions lost goodwill of people because of immediate commercial milking. Yet, this doesn’t mean India shouldn’t try and make economic inroads but it should remember to ensure first person to eat bread is an Afghan and then it may gorge on left overs.

Next is using Indian expertise to train Afghans in all walks of life….not only its military and intelligence machinery but also its doctors, engineers, teachers, supervisors, industrial workers ensuring Afghans become self-sustaining and independent. It should in no way try and copy US philosophy which is far from value system in south Asia. Well-meaning Indians should be put in charge of these activities and anyone diverting from core philosophy ruthlessly dropped from scheme of things. Sub continental societies are still word to mouth communities and local issues on ground are most important. A bottom up approach is best in such eventualities and this call for excellent ground work. Any small error on ground magnifies and this is most probable. India will have to muster all its wits to make a good ground plan. Aim should be to give Afghans central role in any scheme of things.

Lastly but most importantly, India shouldn’t shy away from getting militarily involved to keep Afghan hardliners at bay. If hardliners come to power it will be doubly difficult for the world to dislodge them again and India is bound to lose a great friend in Afghanistan. India has one of the best Armies to tackle sub conventional conflicts and we must use it to project ourselves as sincere world peacemakers. Indian Armies record in earlier UN missions in Congo and Somalia are example of great overseas work and we must follow those tenets rather than present day commercially oriented UN missions. It would be prudent to ensure we make a good tri service effort where forces share camaraderie and help each other rather than trying to hog limelight.