Taliban wants positive relationship with India, welcomes New Delhi's contribution in Afghanistan

The Taliban adapting to the realities of realpolitik. Of course, Afghan can't become a sovereign country without the Taliban widening their horizons.
 

After decades of opposing the Taliban, India may be forming a relationship with them​

A year ago, India was not happy about the state of affairs in Afghanistan. The U.S. was negotiating its exit, the Taliban was consolidating power, and decades of India supporting anti-Taliban forces was evaporating.


But just last month, Indian officials went to Kabul to meet with Taliban leaders. India has also partially reopened its embassy in Kabul to coordinate humanitarian aid.


So, why is India reopening dialogue with the Taliban now? Asfandyar Mir, an expert in international relations and counterterrorism at the U.S. Institute of Peace, says that the interests for all parties involved have a long and complicated history.


He joined All Things Considered to explain the dynamic between India, the Taliban, and Pakistan, as well as India's interests in providing aid to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.


This interview has been edited for length and clarity.



Interview Highlights​


On what the meeting between Indian and Taliban officials last month focused on


In recent weeks, the Taliban have been making a series of public moves to India, which was really an unlikely prospective partner country, given that the Taliban have been allied with Pakistan, which is an arch rival of India. So in many ways, this is a stunning development.




There are some real tensions between the Taliban and the Pakistani government. For one, the Taliban have taken a position which is contrary to Pakistan's expectation on the international border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.


Another reason is that the Taliban are protecting one of the most significant anti-Pakistan insurgent groups, by the name of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, also known as the TTP.


So, watching that, the Indian policymakers seem to have concluded that perhaps there is enough distance between their arch-rival Pakistan and the Taliban, that the Taliban after all are not a mere proxy of the Pakistanis, and that there might be some room for them to forge a working relationship with the Taliban.


On why the Taliban would turn to India for help now


For years, they [Taliban] bemoaned India's support for the former Afghan government republic. And then India's embassy was blown up by the Taliban in 2008. So there was a lot of bad blood between the two sides.


So the question is, why are the Taliban so interested now? And economics might be one big reason. The Taliban are really struggling to govern the country. The fact that they are not diplomatically recognized is making it difficult for them to just fund their government: it's short on resources, there's a humanitarian crisis in the country, there are issues of food security.


gettyimages-1241732628-c999c3c8c84075a97e3c4c3fb8b0a3b5286a02aa-s1100-c50.jpg


Policemen attend a ceremony to receive new uniforms from the Taliban authorities in Kandahar in July.
Javed Tanveer/AFP via Getty Images

The Taliban are hoping that the Indians would increase their supplies of wheat to the country. And over the medium term, the Taliban seem to be interested in India reviving its development projects in Afghanistan.


India built a lot of hospitals, so the Taliban appear to be interested in India reviving some of those activities as well.


On why India might be interested in aiding Afghanistan again


It seems like the Indians and the Taliban have been talking about counterterrorism. So one concern the Indians had, in the lead up to the Taliban's rise to power, was that much like the 1990s, Afghanistan under the Taliban would become a safe haven for terrorists — and not just anti-U.S., anti-Western terrorists, but also anti-Indian terrorists.

Goats and Soda​

Secret schools enable Afghanistan's teen girls to skirt Taliban's education ban​

It appears that now the Indian government has gone to the Taliban, and said, "Look, if you want a relationship with us, we have to talk about these terrorism concerns." So the Taliban for their part have reciprocated with some guarantees similar to what they have provided to the United States government, that they will not allow Afghan territory to be used against India, that the Taliban are telling the Indians they are even ready to take action on any intelligence that the Indians might provide.

On whether there is something for the United States to gain from this new potential alliance
If the Taliban are responding to India, if they are talking about terrorism, if they open up to a human rights conversation with the Indians, that might be good news. In addition, I would say that if the Indians can really figure out a counterterrorism pact with the Taliban, I think that would also be a significant positive step, and could provide a channel for the international community and the U.S. in particular.

It's a complicated situation, and my view is that the U.S. should really be coordinating with India to maximize the counterterrorism benefit and any other benefits that can be had from India's engagement.
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After decades of opposing the Taliban, India may be forming a relationship with them

As the Taliban struggles to maintain control over Afghanistan, India may become an unlikely ally to help them stabilize.
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Taliban wants positive relationship with India, welcomes New Delhi's contribution in Afghanistan
Sidhant Sibal May 09, 2020​


In a first, Taliban has said that it would like to have a positive relationship with India and welcomed New Delhi's cooperation in Afghanistan.

Speaking exclusively to our senior correspondent, Taliban's Doha political office spokesperson, Suhail Shaheen said, "Based on our national interest and mutual respect, we would like to have positive relations with neighbouring countries including India and welcome their contribution and cooperation in the reconstruction of future Afghanistan."

He further said, "The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is a national Islamic movement of Afghanistan which has been struggling for the emancipation of the country from occupation. We don’t have any agenda beyond our border."

The comments come even as the US is keen that India speaks to the Taliban. US Special Representative for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, was in New Delhi last week, the first such visit after the US Taliban deal on February 29 and had spoken about this with India.

During the visit, he called on External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and sources on the meet said, "It is clear, New Delhi needs to be part of the process if we need to contribute effectively to the (Afghan) peace process."

Sources said that the talks, which had "level of urgency", had "covered the entire gamut of the situation in Afghanistan. Proposal for the accommodation of different strands of political thoughts was discussed".

Earlier in 2020, terrorists attacked a Gurdwara in Kabul killing more than 25 Afghan Sikhs and the attack was claimed by the Islamic State. The attack also killed an Indian.

India also expressed it deep "concern at the upsurge in violence" and extended it support for "call for an immediate ceasefire" and need to "assist the people of Afghanistan in dealing with coronavirus pandemic".

India also emphasised on the need to "putting an end to terrorist safe havens and sanctuaries" which is necessary for "enduring and sustainable peace and stability in Afghanistan." The US special envoy was accompanied by Senior Director in the US National Security Council Lisa Curtis and the US Ambassador to India Ken Juster.

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Source: DNA India
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The good thing about Taliban is that they are not back stabbers. They are as good as they appear. They can be a reliable partners and we can have a long lasting friendship with them like what we have with Russia and Israel. They are not back stabbers like US and west.
 
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