Ties with Taliban’s Afghanistan: Tread cautiously

By hosting Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Delhi, India has signalled that the doctrine, ‘my enemy’s enemy is my friend’ does have ample space in its foreign policy. Though New Delhi has still not decided to recognise the Taliban regime in Kabul, the exchange of ambassadors is on the anvil. Given the current Taliban regime’s strained relationship with Islamabad, stepping up ties with Kabul is deemed a strategic necessity by Delhi, no matter what doctrine the regime follows in administering the landlocked nation.

Indian investments in Afghanistan’s infrastructure, roads, dams etc total nearly $3 billion. These being vital assets in building goodwill with Afghan people must not be squandered. Moreover, Afghanistan together with Chahbahar Port in Iran, serves as the alternative route for India to maintain traditional ties and step up trade and contacts with key Central Asian states. Mandarins of the South Block in Delhi barely need to be reminded of the repressive nature of the Taliban regime.

Over the last four years since the regime has taken over Kabul, the ferocity of its antipathy against ideals of a modern republic—democracy, gender justice, freedom of expression, independence of judiciary, respect for diversity, human rights and individual freedoms—have only shown a spiralling graph. Some hint of it was available in the Afghan embassy keeping female journos out of a press conference. Not this alone.

The backdrop painting brazenly portrayed the hollow niche where once stood the hoary statue of Gautam Buddha in Bamiyan, blasted by the very same Taliban in 2001. Considering the kind of the training imparted to them in Pakistani madrassas during Soviet invasion, any relaxation in attitudes will be futile.

But India can lend a helping hand in offering opportunities for Afghan students to be trained in its liberal educational institutions with hope of the trained graduates returning to impart civility to civic administration. India will need to tread cautiously and work with patience to see that the current illiberal regime sees the light of the day and shuns the obscurantist ways of dealing with its people.