Friendly Taliban regime in Afghanistan will serve India’s strategic interests

In international relations, there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies.

A country or entity, which may be or may have been hostile or inimical towards a particular country, may someday become friendly with that nation, if it suits their interests.

The perfect example in this context is the relationship between the Taliban, a Muslim extremist militia of Afghanistan, and India.

Four years back, India was an enemy country for the Taliban that was involved into terror attacks, mostly at the behest of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

However, now, a complete turnaround has been noticed in its perception about India and its approach towards Afghanistan.

As a result, Afghanistan’s Foreign Affairs Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi recently completed his first visit to India.

Muttaqi was here on a 7-day visit, beginning October 9, in response to an official invitation from India.

The landmark visit, symbolises that it had a message from the Taliban to Islamabad -- “We refuse to be your proxies anymore”.

Through the visit, the Taliban regime conveyed to Pakistan that it will follow its independent foreign policy and view different countries through its own prism.

Rubbing it in further, he slammed Pakistan from the Indian soil, saying Islamabad was making desperate attempts to cause destabilization in Afghanistan.

Visit a Success:

During his first trip to India, Muttaqi held delegation level talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and interacted with Indian business leaders.

He also undertook a visit to the Taliban’s ideological fountainhead Darul-uloom at Deoband in Uttar Pradesh where he received a rousing welcome, with tens of thousands of followers of the seat of moderate Islamic thought turning up to have a glimpse of his, even on the streets.

He also met representatives of Sikhs and Hindus and significantly, held two press conferences in Delhi.

In view of the new-found camaraderie, Jaishankar announced that India would reopen its Embassy in Kabul by upgrading the status of its ‘Technical Mission’ there.

The decision to restart the Embassy indicates India’s de facto recognition of the Taliban regime of Afghanistan.

The Taliban regime has been trying for recognition by more nations but its regressive and ancient Islamic practices particularly against girls and women stand in the way.

India will undertake several new projects, including the establishment of a Thalassemia Centre, a Modern Diagnostic Centre, and replacement of the heating system at the

Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health (IGICH) in Kabul.

Jaishankar also announced gifting of 20 ambulances to Afghanistan, 5 of which he delivered to Muttaqi after their talks in Delhi on October 9.

Muttaqi expressed gratitude to the Government of India for its comprehensive and generous humanitarian support.

The Afghan side invited Indian companies to invest in the mining sector which would help strengthen the bilateral trade and commercial relations.

Turnaround:

Till a few months back, who would have imagined that such a development would take place?

Who would have thought that the government in New Delhi would be inviting and discussing cooperation with a top leader of the Taliban.

All those attacks were aimed at terrorizing India so that the country stopped all kinds of engagements in Afghanistan, even though the friendly Afghan people have always been welcoming India and Indians.

The worst terror assault was the suicide bomb attack at the Indian Embassy in Kabul in August 2008, in which a Brigadier and a senior Indian Foreign Service (IFS) were among those killed.

Prior to that in April 2008, the Taliban carried out an attack on personnel of India’s Border Roads Organization (BRO) who were engaged in construction of a highway between Delaram and Zaranj in Afghanistan on friendly basis.

At least 2 BRO personnel were killed in that attack.

It was one of the attacks on the Indian personnel engaged in the construction of the Delaram-Zaranj Highway.

Another major attack was carried out by the Taliban, along with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) on February 26, 2010 at a lodge in Kabul housing several Indians, including doctors, security personnel and artists. At least 7 Indians were killed in that attack. The highlight in this regard was its negative role during the episode of hijack of Indian Airlines Plane

IC814 to Kandahar in December 1999 by 5 Pakistani terrorists in collusion with Pakistan’s ISI.

The Taliban regime did everything that hurt interests of India, which was compelled after 7 days to release 3 dreaded terrorists, including Masood Azhar, in exchange for 166 hostages onboard the plane.

Proxy-turned-enemy of Pakistan:

So, how and why did the Taliban become friendly towards India after nursing hostility for decades?

The prime reason for this is that it has seen the treacherous face of Pakistan, particularly its military.

The Taliban leadership has not forgotten how Pakistan, under the rule of Gen Pervez Musharraf, stabbed them in the back in 2001 by siding with the United States after Al Qaeda carried out terror attacks in New York and Washington.

Pakistan’s expressive support to the US against an Islamist regime came even though it claims to be the benefactor of Muslims around the world.

The Taliban regime has been explicit about its intentions to remove this “imaginary border” demarcated by the erstwhile British rulers and unite Pashtuns living on the either side.

The Taliban’s ideological affiliate organisation, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is based in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and is currently engaged in a “war” against the Pakistani military with the aim of throwing it out and impose Sharia there.

Failing to tame the Taliban regime of Afghanistan, the Pakistani military devised a devious plan to destabilize the government in Kabul using the ISIS-Khorasan.

This subversive plan of Islamabad has caused further anger in Kabul and it wants to hit Pakistan hard. Many pro-Taliban voices say that if Afghanistan has to have peace, then Pakistan must be broken into pieces. In this endeavor who else than India can be helpful! For India, a friendly government in Afghanistan goes a long way to serve its strategic interests, more so, if it is the Taliban regime.

So, India must extend all kinds of cooperation, including in the defence sector, to the Taliban regime and watch Pakistan squirm.

Who knows, the Taliban and India may someday have to collectively fight a war against Pakistan.