India-Afghanistan beyond the Durand Line

A rare account of India's complex relationship with Afghanistan suffers from an awkward theoretical framework

Given Afghanistan’s importance in India’s foreign policy and security calculations, there is a regrettable dearth of literature on New Delhi’s contemporary relations with that wild and romantic country. Filling that void partly is Avinash Paliwal’s new book, which purports to be “a definitive account, grounded in history, of the strategic axis between New Delhi and Kabul”.

The summary on the back flap continues: “India’s political and economic presence in Afghanistan is often viewed as a Machiavellian ploy aimed against Pakistan.”

If Paliwal, a lecturer at the University of London, had let his well-researched historiography tell its own story, it would