Afghanistan and India: Exploring Afghanistan s Role in India s Strategic Foreign Policy Network in Eurasia

In the era of globalization and the transition from a unipolar to a multipolar order, the world has witnessed competition among actors seeking to impose their preferred order on the international system. India, as an emerging power aspiring to play the role of a major global actor, seeks to employ a network-oriented approach to expand its influence within its surrounding environment, particularly in Eurasia. In this regard, the role of certain states is of considerable significance in completing India’s foreign policy network. Accordingly, the central research question is: what position does Afghanistan occupy within India’s strategy and foreign policy network in Eurasia? This study adopts a descriptive–explanatory approach, analyzing data through a conceptual network approach to foreign policy to interpret India’s objectives in Eurasia, drawing on credible Persian- and English-language scholarly and documentary sources. The findings indicate that India’s lack of direct access to Central Eurasia has elevated Afghanistan’s importance as a connecting link in India’s network-based foreign policy in the region. Specifically, India gains maritime access to Iran through the port of Chabahar, and subsequently, via land routes crossing Afghanistan, it is able to reach Central Asia in particular and Eurasia as a broader geopolitical space. Consequently, Afghanistan occupies the second tier of India’s foreign policy network. Therefore, the positions of both Iran and Afghanistan within the well-known North–South Corridor serve as pivotal instruments for operationalizing India’s network-based foreign policy in Eurasia.