New Delhi: India no longer operates the strategically important Ayni air base in Tajikistan that it had helped develop and run since 2002.
While reports of its closure came out Tuesday, it is learnt that the development took place in 2022.
Sources told ThePrint that India was operating the air base along with Tajikistan on a lease period. In 2021, Tajikistan had informed India that the lease would not be extended and hence, New Delhi would have to withdraw men and equipment deployed there.
Sources added that the withdrawal had been completed in 2022 itself, but had remained under wraps so far.
It is learnt that Tajikistan did not want to extend the lease because of apparent pressure from Russia and China over non-regional military personnel at the air base.
Though India did not have any permanent air assets there, two-three Indian military helicopters, gifted to Tajikistan but operated by IAF personnel for disaster relief and humanitarian assistance, were based there. At one time, a couple of Su-30 MKIs were stationed there briefly.
As reported by ThePrint earlier, India had extensively used the air base during the evacuation of its own nationals in 2001 after the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan.
The GMA (Gissar Military Aerodrome), popularly known as the Ayni airbase named after village Ayni, is just west of the Tajik capital Dushanbe. It has been administered by India along with Tajikistan for nearly two decades.
Current National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and former Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa had a key role in setting up the base, which was funded by the Ministry of External Affairs.
The GMA is often confused with another air base—Farkhor in southern Tajikistan, near the border with northern Afghanistan. India ran a hospital in the city of Farkhor in the 1990s.
It was around 2001-2002 that “radical thinkers” in the MEA and security establishment came up with the idea of developing the dilapidated GMA in Ayni, a project strongly backed by former defence minister, the late George Fernandes.
NSA Doval played a key role in setting the ball rolling. The IAF appointed then Group Captain Naseem Akhtar (Retd) to begin work on the airbase. Akhtar, who retired as Air Commodore, was followed by another officer, during whose tenure the private contractor engaged by the Indian government went back on his obligations which then led to a legal suit.
The Indian government also roped in the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) team which was led by a Brigadier. At that time, there were around 200 Indians working on the project and the airstrip at Gissar was extended to 3,200 metres—long enough for most fixed-wing aircraft to land and take off.
Besides this, the Indian team also developed hangars, overhauling and the refuelling capacity of aircraft. It is estimated that India spent close to $100 million developing the GMA.
Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa was appointed the first Base Commander of an ‘operational’ GMA around the end of 2005 when he was a Group Captain.
However, it was only under the Narendra Modi government that India undertook the first international deployment of fighters—Su 30MKI—to the GMA on a temporary basis.
From a strategic point of view, the GMA gave a lot of heft to the Indian military, especially against Pakistan.
Tajikistan shares borders with China and Pakistan. It adjoins Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor, a narrow strip of land that shares a boundary with PoK and China.
With Tajikistan just about 20 km from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir across the corridor, having the ability to operate from Tajikistan gives a lot of options to military planners.
IAF fighters can target Peshawar from Tajikistan, which puts additional pressure on Pakistan’s resources.
At a time of war, this means Pakistan would have to move assets from its eastern borders to the west, which weakens its direct front with India.
Another big advantage of having a foothold in Tajikistan was that it opened up different routes into Afghanistan, bypassing Pakistan.
However, some within the defence and security establishment feel that India has never been able to fully utilise the GMA or the investments it made.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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