{"id":187011,"date":"2025-11-02T10:15:29","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T05:15:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/?p=187011"},"modified":"2025-11-02T10:15:29","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T05:15:29","slug":"closure-of-indias-only-overseas-airbase-in-tajikistan-a-big-blow-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/2025\/11\/02\/closure-of-indias-only-overseas-airbase-in-tajikistan-a-big-blow-congress.html","title":{"rendered":"Closure of India\u2019s only overseas airbase in Tajikistan a big blow: Congress"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-187012\" src=\"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/assests\/2025\/11\/2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" \/><\/p>\n<p>New Delhi: Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has criticised the Modi government over reports that India had shut down its only overseas military facility \u2014 the Ayni airbase in Tajikistan \u2014 calling it a \u201csetback for strategic diplomacy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to Kashmir Media Service, in a post on X, Ramesh recalled that India had established the Ayni airbase in the early 2000s and later expanded its infrastructure with ambitious plans to strengthen its presence there due to the site\u2019s \u201cextraordinary location.\u201d However, he added that around four years ago, India was asked to \u201cgradually withdraw,\u201d and it now appeared that the base had been completely closed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is, without doubt, yet another setback for our strategic diplomacy,\u201d Ramesh remarked, taking aim at what he described as the Modi government\u2019s failure to sustain critical foreign policy assets.<\/p>\n<p>Located about 10 kilometres from Tajikistan\u2019s capital, Dushanbe, the Ayni airbase was widely regarded as a vital outpost for India\u2019s regional ambitions, giving it a rare strategic reach into Central Asia and proximity to Afghanistan. It remained India\u2019s only operational overseas airbase.<\/p>\n<p>The Ayni base had served multiple strategic roles, including supporting the former Northern Alliance in Afghanistan and later being used in 2021 to evacuate Indian nationals following the Taliban\u2019s takeover of Kabul.<\/p>\n<p>The closure of the Ayni airbase underscores India\u2019s waning strategic depth in Central Asia at a time when regional geopolitics is being reshaped by China\u2019s Belt and Road Initiative and Russia\u2019s entrenched military presence. The loss of this facility not only limits India\u2019s ability to project power westward but also reduces its operational leverage in crises involving Afghanistan or the broader Eurasian corridor. Analysts say the development highlights a broader diplomatic drift, where India\u2019s strategic partnerships have not translated into sustained influence or infrastructure footholds \u2014 raising questions about New Delhi\u2019s long-term vision for Central Asian engagement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New Delhi: Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has criticised the Modi government over reports that India had shut down its only overseas military facility \u2014 the Ayni airbase in Tajikistan \u2014 calling it a \u201csetback for strategic diplomacy.\u201d According to Kashmir Media Service, in a post on X, Ramesh recalled that India had established the Ayni &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":187012,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-187011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-india"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/assests\/2025\/11\/2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187011"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187011\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":187013,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187011\/revisions\/187013"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}