Oh I don't know. Lining up with a functioning though flawed democracy that will soon be the most populous country in the world and has a growing, dynamic economy and doesn't kill our people; rather than a collapsing police state with a lousy economy that takes our money and uses it to kill us, may be strategically advantageous to us in the long run.

Whatever obstacles there are to a major Indian presence in Afghanistan, the Indians will overcome on their own. They don't need us.