{"id":58802,"date":"2025-11-10T20:28:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T14:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=58802"},"modified":"2025-11-11T12:10:31","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T06:40:31","slug":"india-withdraws-ayni-airbase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/10-11-2025\/india-withdraws-ayni-airbase","title":{"rendered":"India Withdraws from Ayni Airbase"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS1\/Places \/GS2\/IR<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>In News<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>India has shut down its operations at the Ayni airbase in Tajikistan, a key overseas facility that had provided its strategic influence in Central Asia.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Ayni Airbase<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-dominant-color=\"dacbb4\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"502\" height=\"424\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/11\/India-Withdraws-from-Ayni-Airbase.webp\" alt=\"India withdraws from ayni airbase\" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-58851\" style=\"--dominant-color: #dacbb4; width:426px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/11\/India-Withdraws-from-Ayni-Airbase.webp 502w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/11\/India-Withdraws-from-Ayni-Airbase-300x253.webp 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 502px) 100vw, 502px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The airbase, originally built during the Soviet era, was in poor condition following the split of the Soviet Union.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>India invested around $80 million since 2002 to upgrade it with a 3,200-metre runway, hangars, fuel depots, and air traffic control, largely executed by the Border Roads Organisation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It is situated in<strong> Tajikistan around 20 km from Afghanistan\u2019s Wakhan Corridor, <\/strong>which shares a boundary with the <strong>Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and with China\u2019s Xinjiang province.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Importance&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Ayni was India\u2019s only full-fledged overseas base, and its location offered India a military foothold in central Asia and leverage over Pakistan.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It also facilitated evacuation operations after the Taliban\u2019s return in 2021.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It served as a strategic Indian military outpost and initially used during India\u2019s support to the Northern Alliance against the Taliban.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>At its peak, around 200 Indian personnel and Sukhoi-30 MKI jets were stationed there.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Its presence projected influence in the region dominated by major powers like Russia and China.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Reasons Behind Recent Withdrawal<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>India withdrew from the Ayni airbase in Tajikistan in 2022 after its bilateral agreement for rehabilitation and development of the facility concluded.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Tajik government reportedly declined to renew the lease due to pressure from Russia and China.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The withdrawal was carried out quietly and only came to light recently.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Its loss is seen as a setback for India\u2019s long-term strategic influence and regional security posture, especially given the significant investments made over two decades.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#ebecf0\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Do you know?<\/strong><br>&#8211; India currently does <strong>not operate any functional overseas military base. <\/strong>However, in 2024, it inaugurated a<strong> strategic airstrip and jetty on Agal\u00e9ga Islands in Mauritius<\/strong>, enhancing its maritime reach in the western Indian Ocean and surveillance capability off Africa\u2019s east coast.&nbsp;<br>&#8211; India also maintains a military training team in Bhutan for the Royal Bhutan Army and Bodyguard.&nbsp;<br>&#8211; India operated temporarily from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka during the 1971 war and IPKF mission.<br>&#8211; In contrast, China has an official base in Djibouti and is reportedly building one in Tajikistan, while the U.S. maintains over 100 overseas bases globally, including major installations in South Korea, Qatar, Germany, and Japan.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source :<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/india-ayni-airbase-10353656\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>IE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong>In News<\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">India has shut down its operations at the Ayni airbase in Tajikistan, a key overseas facility that had provided its strategic influence in Central Asia.\u00a0<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong>Ayni Airbase<\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">The airbase, originally built during the Soviet era, was in poor condition following the split of the Soviet Union.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">India invested around $80 million since 2002 to upgrade it with a 3,200-metre runway, hangars, fuel depots, and air traffic control, largely executed by the Border Roads Organisation<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">It is situated in Tajikistan around 20 km from Afghanistan\u2019s Wakhan Corridor, which shares a boundary with the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and with China\u2019s Xinjiang province.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/10-11-2025\/india-withdraws-ayni-airbase\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read\u00a0More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58802"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58879,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58802\/revisions\/58879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}