Ideologically and strategically, India seems to be utilising its soft powers better than Pakistan in dealing with their resourceful neighbour, Afghanistan.
Afghanistan has always been the playground of the ‘great game’, with different nations battling ideologically and strategically to control and guide Afghanistan. While the players of the game have changed over time, the nature of the game has always been not only about exercising hard power but also about soft power influence and its significance in winning the game in Afghanistan. Between India and Pakistan, the soft power great game has played out in favour of India, leaving Pakistan unquestionably behind in the race to gain dominance and extend influence in Afghanistan.
While Afghanistan is known for its geo-strategic importance and abundance of natural resources, India and Pakistan wish to strengthen their relationship with the nation due to various other factors. A stable Afghanistan is crucial for regional and domestic security and stability for India and Pakistan. Both countries feel that exercising their influence in Afghanistan will enhance their strategic space and significance.
To acquire a worthwhile image among the global powers and gain regional hegemony, India believes that first it must exert influence in South Asia. India has for long exercised and extended its influence through art, culture, music, films etc. India’s soft power diplomacy, particularly in Afghanistan involves winning “hearts and minds” and strengthening its cultural as well as political relations with Afghanistan, backed with the ideas of nation building and political stability. While one might say that India’s ulterior motive is to gain regional hegemony or become a global power, it cannot be denied that focusing on soft power methods has benefitted India in Afghanistan and is helping it build trust and support in the nation.
As a knee jerk reaction to India’s success, Pakistan has become overly concerned with the India-Afghan friendship. Although, Pakistan wishes to reduce the Indian influence and tilt Afghan support towards themselves, her narrow state visions have turned out to be self-defeating. Besides, being Afghanistan’s immediate neighbour, Pakistan has century old ties with the nation which it could use to influence Afghanistan. These include historical, cultural, religious, ethnic, linguistic and trading links that naturally tie Pakistan to Afghanistan. Pakistan has failed to capitalise on these advantages in order to strengthen its relations with Afghanistan. Pakistan primarily relies on military means and hard power and completely neglects the use of soft power methods such as art, culture, education to promote their foreign policy objectives. Moreover, the fact that various terrorist and extremist outfits harbor in Pakistan and the state is believed to support these organisations, plays to its disadvantage and tarnishes its image among other states including Afghanistan. As a result, Indian impact and the sway of soft power has resulted in a much greater acceptance and support in Afghanistan as compared to that of Pakistan.
India’s involvement and contribution to the development of cricket in Afghanistan has been one of its primary means of soft power influence in the nation. Interestingly, cricket in Afghanistan originated in the refugee camps in Pakistan that were occupied by Afghans escaping the war against the Soviets in the 1980’s. While Afghans took to cricket in a big way, the game faced the hurdles of development, funding and proper infrastructure. Indian contribution to the development of cricket in Afghanistan has been boon for both nations. Due to disturbed conditions within Afghanistan, the Afghan team was quite eager and grateful to choose India as their home base.
Last year India hosted the Indo-Afghanistan Friendship series in Bengaluru, a test cricket format that is longer, highly competitive and prestigious, showcasing the Afghan team’s great capabilities. This series was a milestone for Afghan cricket and strengthened the India-Afghanistan relations. India showed great hospitability and welcomed the Afghanistan team. Moreover, India declared the Greater Noida Stadium as the Afghan team’s official training facility as they lack one in their own country. Recently, Dehradun has been listed as the second adopted home ground for the Afghanistan cricket team. The Indian government has also provided coaching and technical facilities along with funding to build a stadium in Kandahar. India has used cricket not only as a means of nation building in Afghanistan but for widening their own relationship with the nation. Pakistan, being Afghanistan’s immediate neighbour and originator of Afghan cricket, could have built a strong relation with the nation but instead has watched India take over this position.
The relationship between Bollywood and Afghanistan is joined at the hip for a long time. The nature of this relationship is such that it creates a people-to-people bond that is greater than any governmental efforts. As a society that has been suppressed by the harsh rules of the Taliban, the Afghans love and cherish Bollywood films that display exaggerated images of Bollywood hero’s and revolve around fighting injustice. These films allow the Afghans to engross themselves into the fantasies of Bollywood and enjoy the extravagant lifestyle portrayed in the films. Stories such as the Kabuliwala by Rabindranath Tagore, display the cultural links between India and Afghanistan, further increasing the bond between the two nations. Indian cinema has always been a large market in Afghanistan. Moreover, Bollywood has always portrayed Afghans and particularly Pashtuns as the ‘good guys’. Be it a Pathan devoting his life to protect a girl in Chhalia or a Pathan portrayed as a great friend and an honorable man in Zanjeer. This portrayal also colors the perception in India about the Afghans. Many Bollywood films such as Dharmatma, Kabul Express, Khuda Gawah have been shot in Afghanistan further increasing the popularity of Indian cinema in the nation.
The movies develop a feeling of friendship between the Afghans as well as remind them of the kinship with India. Afghan president Ashraf Ghani stated that the impact of Bollywood in Afghanistan is more than even a billion dollars could do. This shows the depth of soft power influence of Bollywood in Afghanistan by winning hearts and minds of the people. Pakistan, with its cultural ties and geographical proximity with Afghanistan, could have used their entertainment sector just like India to win over people and gain trust in Afghanistan. Yet again, favoring hard power over soft power has left Pakistan behind.
India has been heavily involved in and has largely contributed to the educational development in Afghanistan. The education sector in Afghanistan lacks proper infrastructure, suffers from a huge gender disparity and shortage of trained teachers. India has provided multiple scholarships to Afghan students with thousands of Afghan nationals studying in India. Vocational training and skill development classes are also provided to Afghan women and youth. India is currently building and upgrading the Habibia High School, a project that is worth more than 1 million USD. Through educational development, India has also tried to build ties with the ethnic communities of Afghanistan, specially the Pashtun community that is present on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and serves as a buffer between Pakistan and India. Education as a soft power has worked in favour of India with regards to building trust and influence among the people of Afghanistan.
Another important Indian contribution has been in health and medical care in Afghanistan. India has bestowed an amount of 5 million USD for the Afghan Red Society Programme to treat congenital heart disease in children. Medical tourism has become a large market between India and Afghanistan, enhancing the people-to-people interaction between the two. New Delhi adopted a more liberal visa policy in 2014 for Afghan nationals making it easier for Afghan patients to travel to India due to lack of proper facilities in their own land. Both private and government hospitals in India welcome the inflow of foreign patients and provide them with complete assistance. There are various interpreters who help the patients converse with the hospital staff and some of the staff is also well trained in foreign languages. India’s hospitable and welcoming approach to Afghan patients has increased the influx of patients from Afghanistan. Simultaneously, Pakistan has been losing Afghan patients to India. Afghans have stopped seeking medical care in Pakistan due to their strict border management policy, stringent visa policy for Afghans and constant security checks at the border. Moreover, although the cost of medical treatment is increasing in India, the increase is more rapid in Pakistan. Thus, India’s comparatively liberal polices in terms of healthcare have attracted Afghans, further widening the relationship between the two nations.
Clearly, India’s use of soft power over hard power in Afghanistan has greatly benefited the nation and its relationship with Afghanistan. Soft power plays an important role in developing friendly and diplomatic relations with nations and cannot be neglected. This is not to say that hard power should be completely neglected. A balance and combination of hard and soft power is required to achieve the required goal. If Pakistan wishes to influence and have stable relations with Afghanistan, it ought to use soft power means rather than solely relying on hard power and military tactics.
Bhairvi Tandon was a research intern at ORF New Delhi.
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