The relationship between India and Afghanistan has long been a close one. Linked ever since 305 BC, when the Seleucid Empire gave a large part of what is now Afghanistan to the Indian Maurya Empire in an alliance treaty, the two cultures have shared a lot; the influence of Buddhism and Hinduism in Afghanistan is one notable example, while the preponderance of Bollywood stars with Afghani roots is another symbolic case. There’s also been a strong tradition of political support between the two countries; Afghani leaders Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Khan Sahib were outspoken proponents of the Indian Independence Movement in the 1940s, and India is currently the largest regional provider of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.

All very interesting, but if you really want to get a feel for the extent of Indo-Afghan empathy, read Tagore’s “The Kabuliwallah,” written in 1916; just be forewarned—it’s a tearjerker.