My Enemy's Enemy: India in Afghanistan from the Soviet Invasion to the US Withdrawal [Hardcover]

The archetype of 'my enemy's enemy is my friend', India's political and economic presence in Afghanistan is often viewed as a Machiavellian ploy aimed against Pakistan. The first of its kind, this book interrogates that simplistic yet powerful geopolitical narrative and asks what truly drives India's Afghanistan policy.A curse - Prologue1. In Pursuit of Friendship - India's Quest in AfghanistanPart I - Debating Neutrality2. Kabuliwallah - A Brief History of India-Afghanistan Relations3. Leaning Tower of Delhi - Managing the Soviet Invasion and WithdrawalPart II - Debating Containment4. The Taliban Dilemma - Partisans Versus Conciliators5. Friends from north, foes from south - India, United Front, and the hijacking of Flight IC-8146. War and Terror - Destruction in Bamiyan and the Aftermath of 9/11Part III - Debating Engagement7. Maximum Leader - Hamid Karzai, India, and the Kabul Durbar8. No Good Taliban? - India's Taliban Learning Curve9. First as Tragedy, then as Farce - Managing the US WithdrawalA blessing - EpilogueAppendix AAppendix BAppendix CBibliography Paliwal offers an insightful analysis of India's role in Afghanistan. Contextualizing the historical significance of Afghanistan as a 'fulcrum of global power' and a battleground of 'conflict, competition, as well as aspiration' through excellent archival material and fieldwork, he explores how India, as a 'rising power' rooted in its own domestic, political, social, regional, and ideological complexities, has defined and debated its approach toward Afghanistan since the Soviet invasion to the ongoing US withdrawal. --Choice

My Enemy's Enemybreaks new ground: it is the first serious, scholarly account of India's policy towards Afghanistan. Paliwal analyses the push-and-pull of policymaking in New Delhi against the backdrop of wider strategic shifts. This book is indispensable to anyone wanting to make sense of India's engagement with Afghanistan. -- Srinath Raghavan, Senior Fellow at thlã2