India Shuts Ayni Airbase Operations

Context

India’s activities at the Ayni airfield in Tajikistan have stopped, ending its presence at an important foreign site that boosted its reach across Central Asia.

Ayni Airbase

• The airbase was first constructed by the Soviets but fell into decay once their union collapsed.
• India spent close to $80 million from 2002 onward improving the site – adding a 3,200-meter runway, storage for planes, fuel stations, along with systems for managing flights, mostly handled by the Border Roads Organisation.
• It sits in Tajikistan, about 20 km away from Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor – this area touches Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, known as PoK, while also meeting China’s Xinjiang region.

Importance

• Ayni stood as India’s sole complete foreign outpost, yet its position offered New Delhi strategic reach into Central Asia while also pressuring Pakistan.
• Plus, it helped get people out once the Taliban came back in 2021.
• A key Indian army base, it first saw action when Delhi backed the Northern Alliance in fighting the Taliban.
• Back then, around 200 Indian crew plus Sukhoi-30 MKI planes were based at that spot.
• It showed power in an area where big players such as China and Russia hold sway.

Reasons for Recent Withdrawal

• India left the Ayni airfield in Tajikistan when its deal to upgrade and run the site ended back in 2022.
• Reports say Tajikistan didn’t renew the lease – Russia and China pushed hard behind the scenes.
• The pullout happened without fanfare, yet just surfaced now.
• The loss counts as a step back after twenty years spent building steady clout along with shaping how safety’s handled across the area.

India’s Global Defense Links

• Right now, India’s got no active foreign military outpost. Still, back in 2024, they opened up a key airfield along with a dock on Agalega Islands – part of Mauritius – which boosted their sea presence across the west Indian Ocean while also improving watch operations near East Africa.
• India runs a defense advisory group in Bhutan, helping train royal guards alongside army units.
• India ran operations out of Bangladesh plus Sri Lanka when the 1971 conflict hit, also during the IPKF deployment.
• China’s got an official outpost in Djibouti while rumors say they’re setting up shop in Tajikistan too. On the flip side, America runs over a hundred foreign installations across the globe – major hubs sit in places like South Korea, Qatar, Germany, plus Japan.

Source: The Indian Express

Prelims PYQ

(Q) What is the importance of developing Chabahar Port by India? (2017) 

(a) India’s trade with African countries will enormously increase.
(b) India’s relations with oil-producing Arab countries will be strengthened.
(c) India will not depend on Pakistan for access to Afghanistan and Central Asia.
(d) Pakistan will facilitate and protect the installation of a gas pipeline between Iraq and India.

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