India has overtaken Pakistan to become Afghanistan's largest export market, with Afghan exports to India rising from $612 million in 2024 to $755 million in 2025 (a 23% increase), while exports to Pakistan declined by 38.2% to $500 million. This economic shift, combined with India's humanitarian assistance of over $3 billion and diplomatic support for Afghanistan's claims on Jammu and Kashmir, represents a strategic realignment that isolates Pakistan and strengthens India's influence in the region.
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Operation Sindoor 2.0: India's Afghanistan Strategy Against Pakistan | India Pak War | Defence News
Added:Indian Prime Minister Modi has secured another strategic victory over Pakistan.
India has emerged as the top export market for Afghanistan replacing and surpassing Pakistan. This could not only reshape regional power balance but also further isolate Islamabad. According to Afghanistan's Ministry of Industry and Commerce, India now accounts for nearly 43% of Afghanistan's total exports.
According to latest data which has just emerged, Kabul's exports to India increased by over 23%, rising from $612 million in 2024 to $755 million in 2025, which will further increase in 2026. In contrast, Afghanistan's exports to Pakistan have fallen sharply, decreasing from $817 million in 2024 to $500 million in 2025, which is a decline of 38.2%.
This will go down further in 2026 given the ongoing Pakistan Afghanistan border conflict. Amid the turmoil, India has again emerged as a friend in need for the Afghan people. No wonder the Taliban backs India's historical and legal claims over entire Jammu and Kashmir including P or Pakistan occupied Kashmir. Afghan exports to India largely consist of dried fruits, nuts, saffron, apples and spices while Afghanistan relies on India for pharmaceuticals, industrial inputs, sugar, automotive components, machinery and clothing. Even more significantly, India and Afghanistan are now looking to deepen cooperation in mining and critical minerals as Kabell seeks investment in rich deposits of lithium, copper and rare earths. This would also help India shield itself against Chinese monopoly on rare earth critical minerals.
Stronger economic engagement with Afghanistan serves India's wider strategic interest by preserving its influence in Kbble, facilitating access to critical minerals supply chain and providing a means to balance China's weaponization of key sectors including rare earth technologies. But while India tries to help the Afghan people, Pakistan continues its air strikes inside Afghan territory resulting in civil casualties. India has strongly criticized Pakistan at the United Nations Security Council, accusing Islamabad of taking advantage of Afghanistan's landlocked geography and then carrying out air strikes that have resulted in the loss of lives of hundreds of civilians. Addressing the UNC, India's ambassador Harish Parvatani argued that Pakistan's denial of transit access for Afghan traders amounted to unprecedented trade and transit terror.
He stated that New Delhi continues to support affected Afghan traders by providing hundreds of long-term business visas free of charge. Referring to the virtual blockade of Afghanistan imposed by Pakistan, the Indian ambassador noted, quote, "This cynical closure of access for this landlogged countries in total violation of UN declarations on landlocked developing countries and a clear weaponization of their trade and transit vulnerabilities." unquote. Our news report on Indian Air Force was ranking among the top five in Google news videos. I am Shoubet Patal.
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Addressing crossber military aggression, the Indian envoy sharply criticized Pakistan's operations inside Afghan territory, referring to UNMA reports detailing severe civil casualties. Now, as per the data presented by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, 372 Afghan civilians lost their lives and 397 others were seriously injured as a result of Pakistani air strikes in Kabul and other regions. The Indian ambassador slammed Pakistan saying Pakistan's campaign of military air strikes against Afghanistan is causing huge civilian casualties and suffering to the Afghan people.
Condemning these strikes, the ambassador Parvatani added, "Dressing up a massacre as a military operation does not absolve the perpetrator. Killing, maming, and orphaning civilians is not counter terror. Espousing high principles of international law and Islamic solidarity while mercilessly carrying out air strikes during the holy month of Ramadan is the perfect example of hypocrisy." He further called out the international community to condemn these actions.
describing them as clear violations of WTO rules, the UN charter and international law. The ambassador also rejected Pakistan's practice of blaming neighbors for its own failures while criticizing what he described as officially sponsored disinformation, including the designation of certain militant groups inside Pakistan as fitna al-Hindustan. New Delhi ridiculed Pakistan's attempts to institutionalize anti-India rhetoric without any evidence. Parvanini added, "It is an outcome of an organized factory of hate coming from deep state of Pakistan which aims to keep their citizens in a state of permanent hostility with India." The ambassador highlighted India's extensive humanitarian and development assistance to Afghanistan, which includes the supply of over 50,000 tons of wheat and 420 tons of medicines and vaccines, as well as support for relief efforts following recent earthquakes. He further noted that India has been sponsoring medical treatment for Afghan children with heart diseases, strengthening health care facilities, and offering academic scholarships to nearly 3,000 Afghan students since 2023, including a thousand women. Emphasizing the deep cultural and people-to-people historic ties between the two countries, Ambassador Harish Parbatanini cited the enthusiasm generated by the participation of Afghan cricketers in the Indian Premier League T20 tournament and referred to India's efforts to host a bilateral cricket series. Pakistan has accused the Afghan Taliban government of serving as a proxy for India. Now this is an embarrassment for Islamabad itself whose generals in the past proudly used to claim that it was Pakistan which had created the Taliban.
>> But I support their cause morally. I am a moral.
>> Today the Afghans have lost all trust in Pakistan especially after Pakistani air strikes in Afghan territory. So now Islamabad is insecure about the growing diplomatic relationship and security cooperation between Kabul and New Delhi.
India's ties with Afghanistan are purely humanitarian. India has never sent any troops or weapons inside Afghanistan.
Unlike Pakistan, the United States or Russia who all fought to control the landlogged nation, New Delhi works for the benefit of Afghan people regardless of who is in power in Kabul which currently happens to be the Taliban. Even during the past administrations of both Hammed Karzai and Ashra Ghani, India invested over $3 billion in humanitarian assistance and reconstruction efforts inside Afghanistan. This support included construction of dams for drinking water and irrigation, schools and hospitals as well as new national assembly building in Kabul which was inaugurated in December 2015 during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first visit to Afghanistan. India's border roads organization also contributed to major infrastructure projects including the 218 km long Zarange Daram highway completed in 2009 under Karzai's government under Ghani's leadership India undertook the Salma dam project to support irrigation in Afghanistan during his second visit to the country in June 2016 Modi inaugurated this project worth $290 million a month earlier In May 2016, India, Iran, and Afghanistan had signed a trilateral trade and transit agreement centered on the Chabahar port in Iraq. Pravin Danti, a senior analyst at the international crisis group, told Al Jazzer that India's approach reflects strategic pragmatism, arguing that New Delhi does not want to forgo the relationship on ideological grounds or create additional strategic space in the region for Pakistan and China to exploit. During Afghanistan foreign minister's visit to India last year, Afghanistan officially bagged India's historic and legal claims on the whole of Jammu and Kashmir region which includes P or Pakistan occupied Kashmir.
Pakistani air strikes inside Afghanistan started soon after. Now what Islamabad is really terrified about is India and Afghanistan joining hands and trapping Pakistan in a two-front war. It just cannot win. But what do you believe?
Should India also arm the Afghans against Pakistani aggression? Leave a comment with your opinion. Hit the like button and subscribe to Incon News.
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