India Must Convince The Taliban About Its Role In Rebuilding Afghanistan
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-07-12 04:08:04
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Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
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As the Taliban advances towards Kabul after having captured major territories in the war-ravaged Afghanistan after the withdrawal of the UP troops, India has wisely evacuated its staff from the Kandahar mission. Although sooner or later India will have to have a working understanding with the Taliban given its stakes in Afghanistan, now is not the time for that. For the present, India must work to protect its interests, assets and the lives of its personnel there.
What is distressing for India is that the gains of last 20 years have come to naught with the situation changing in favour of Taliban and, by proxy, Pakistan. India has been a big partner in the development initiatives in Afghanistan and will like that arrangement to continue. But with Pakistan in cahoots with the Taliban, it will become increasingly difficult for India to manage completed projects and complete ongoing projects, let alone bag new ones. Despite the traditional friendship between the people of the two countries, with Taliban, supported and guided by Pakistan, at the helm, relations will not be as cosy as before.
The other aspect of the changed situation in Afghanistan is the increased security threat for India. In the Talibani emirate of Afghanistan, all kinds of terror outfits, including the Haqqani network, the Jaish-e-Mohammed and the Lashkar-e-Toiba are going to get a patient hearing, support and shelter. In fact, given the FATF sword hanging over Pakistan, it would encourage these outfits to shift base to Afghanistan and use Pakistan only to infiltrate into India. If the Taliban fully takes over Afghanistan and starts financing and supporting terror activities against India at Pakistan's behest, the proxy war Pakistan is waging against India will assume dangerous proportions.
Hence, it would be in India's interests to open up back channel negotiations with Taliban and come to a working understanding sooner rather than later. While it is obvious that the Taliban will not be a friend given the past experience, India can at least ensure that it does not become an avowed and active enemy. For this, the ancient and deep cultural and business ties between the two countries must be brought into play. In the changed scenario, India must not become pariah in Afghanistan and must convince the Taliban that it has the resources, the expertise and the experience to play an important role in rebuilding the war-ravaged nation.
