India is deepening the engagement with Afghanistan without endorsing the current Taliban regime, says Sushant Sareen, well known Af-Pak commentator in an interview with StratNews Global. It explains the recent visit by a high-level Indian delegation headed by JP Singh, chief of the External Affairs Ministry’s PAI (Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran) Division. It’s important to note that India is deepening the engagement at a time when Kabul’s ties with Islamabad have worsened with the two sides exchanging fire along the Durand Line.
For India, says Sareen, many of the Taliban’s practices are abhorrent, notably their treatment of women, lack of respect for education, and their attitude towards minorities. But these are not deal breakers. “It underscores the point that India will deal with whichever government is in power in Kabul,” he says.
It flows from the determination that India has a long and deep association with the Afghan people, and at all costs everything must be done that ensures the connection remains and to the people’s benefit. So humanitarian supplies continue to flow. Education for women is an issue given how the Taliban sees it but an alternative being worked on is online courses. Of course that presumes internet connectivity is available throughout Afghanistan, but India has to work within these constraints.
India has long seen the Taliban as a terrorist outfit, a Pakistani proxy. Has that changed? India is well aware of the Taliban’s origins in Pakistan’s madarsas but equally, the Taliban has also rejected Islamabad’s attempts to control and direct them. The fact that the two sides are now exchanging fire across the Durand Line suggests a significant breakdown in their relationship.
Given the equation ‘enemie’s enemy is my friend’, it makes sense for India to deepen the engagement with the Taliban without breaking the international consensus on giving it no international legitimacy. The Taliban are also willing to play this game, and in that sense, are following the practice of previous Afghan governments, that regardless of ideological orientation, always turned to India to balance off Pakistan.
