The Afghan army chief, Gen. Bismillah Khan Mohammadi's visit to India this week draws attention to some long unanswered questions: Should Delhi offer significant military assistance to Kabul? Should India send its troops into Afghanistan?

At the moment, India's military involvement in Afghanistan is limited to small humanitarian projects and a bit of English language training. Why is India's contribution to Afghan security so low? If countries so far from Afghanistan-like Canada and Australia-have deployed troops there, what is holding back Delhi, such an important neighbour and economic partner of Kabul?

One set of factors relate to Islamabad's neuralgia on Delhi's involvement in Afghanistan. Pakistan, which thinks Afghanistan should be its exclusive sphere of influence, would prefer to have zero Indian presence across its western borders.

Second, with Pakistan making a big deal out of Delhi's rather limited security cooperation with Kabul, Washington has over the last few years cautioned India against raising its profile in Afghanistan beyond economic reconstruction. Even the Bush Administration, which was so friendly to India, was not enthusiastic about seeing the extension of Indo-Pak rivalry into Afghanistan.

Third, India itself has been hesitant about being drawn too deeply in Afghan security affairs. Although a small section of the security establishment was ready to consider joining the international military effort to stabilize Afghanistan, the consensus has remained firmly in favour of non-involvement.

Although Kabul would like India to do more on military cooperation, prudence has prevailed in Delhi. Realists in the South Block have always cautioned against a military role in Afghanistan, pointing to the extraordinary difficulties of sustaining it in the face of Pakistani hostility and international opposition.

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