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Last month, it came to light that India no longer operates its erstwhile overseas airbase in Tajikistan that gave it a strategic heft in central Asia.
In 2022, India started quietly withdrawing its military personnel and equipment from the Ayni airbase in Tajikistan, which it had built and maintained for the last two decades.
Ayni was India’s only full-fledged overseas base, and its location offered India a military foothold in central Asia and leverage over Pakistan. Its presence projected influence in the region dominated by major powers like Russia and China.
Here’s all you need to know about this airbase and the impact of India’s withdrawal from there.
The Ayni airbase
It was a key airbase of India in a strategic location in Tajikistan, where India first deployed military personnel when it was supporting the earlier Northern Alliance in Afghanistan, which was fighting the Taliban.
The airbase was also used by India to evacuate its nationals after the Taliban took control of Kabul in August 2021.
It is located around 20 km from Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor, which shares a boundary with the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and with China’s Xinjiang province.
The airbase, originally built during the Soviet era, was in poor condition following the split of the Soviet Union. Over the last two decades, India spent around $80 million to renovate the airbase, which included repairing and upgrading the runway to a 3,200-metre runway suitable for combat jets and heavy lift transport aircraft, as well as constructing hangars, fuel depots, air traffic control facility, under a 2002 bilateral agreement with the Tajik government. Much of the renovation of the airbase was done by the Border Roads Organisation.
At one point, up to 200 Indian military personnel, mostly from the Army and the IAF, were also stationed at the airbase along with a few Sukhoi 30 MKI jets. After the agreement with the Tajik government lapsed, India started pulling out people and assets from the airbase in 2022.
Reasons for the withdrawal
India has officially said that it had a bilateral arrangement with Tajikistan for the rehabilitation and development of any aerodrome, and while this arrangement was in place for several years, the facility was handed over to the Tajikistan side in 2022 after the conclusion of the agreement with the country.
It is understood that the Tajikistan government was reluctant to renew the lease for the airbase owing to pressure from Russia and China.
The withdrawal of Indian presence was carried out subsequently, but quietly. The matter only came to light last month.
How does it affect India?
Ayni airbase was India’s only full-fledged overseas base and was located in a region that offered it not only a presence in central Asia, where it was looking to expand its influence in the long term, but also offered it is a strategic heft compared to its proximity to both the Xinjiang region and to Wakhan corridor — a narrow, landlocked strip of land in Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province that borders China’s Xinjiang region to the east, Tajikistan to the north, and PoK to the south.
Any overseas military base is of high importance to any country as it offers access not just to the country it is located in, but also to the neighbouring region. And if its located in a strategically key region, such a base would often be critical in filling up security and intelligence voids for the country.
Ayni airbase was India’s only full-fledged operational overseas military base. It was also one India spent significant resources over the last two decades, both in terms of manpower and funds.
Withdrawal of Indian presence from Ayni airbase may be a setback for India, particularly because of its proximity to the Wakhan corridor, which is of geopolitical interest to both China and Pakistan for security reasons and for trade, potentially.
Does India have any other overseas military bases?
India does not have a functional overseas military base in any other country.
In 2024, India and Mauritius jointly inaugurated an airstrip and a jetty that India has built on Agaléga, a set of two islands in the western Indian Ocean. Both of these are key strategic projects that can help to expand India’s reach in the Indian Ocean and enhance its coverage of the waters off the east coast of Africa, where China is also expanding its influence.
The existing airstrip on North Agaléga Island was suitable for the Indian Navy’s Dornier aircraft operations, but the upgraded airstrip will allow the Navy to also operate the larger P8I maritime reconnaissance aircraft.
India has a military training team in Bhutan, which is responsible for the training of the personnel of the Royal Bhutan Army (RBA) and the Royal Bodyguard of Bhutan (RBG).
India had temporarily operated from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka during the 1971 India-Pakistan war and the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) mission, respectively.
China, on the other hand, has an official overseas military base in Djibouti. Various reports and satellite imagery have pointed to China building a military base in Tajikistan, but China has not officially acknowledged it. The United States has over a hundred overseas military bases or installations across the globe, including Camp Humphreys in South Korea (the largest overseas base), Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, and multiple installations in Germany and Japan.
