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Thursday March 28, 2024

India troubled at US-Taliban talks

By Zahoor Khan Marwat
May 27, 2019

India is keeping a close watch on the US-Taliban talks that have recently taken place in Doha, Qatar, reports from New Delhi say. In fact, the country is much disturbed at why the US is even talking to the Taliban. India claims that it has ‘legitimate security interests’ in Afghanistan though it presents ludicrous arguments for it. It claims that militant groups in Afghanistan could threaten held-Kashmir and therefore it has security interests in the country though it does not share a border with it. Meanwhile, New Delhi has pledged $3 billion in aid and created some infrastructure, transport links and power transmission lines in Afghanistan.

Harsh V. Pant and Avinash Paliwal, two analysts of Indian origin, have recently stated in a US publication: “India’s Afghanistan policy is not driven by ideological or humanitarian concerns. It is driven by a desire to limit Islamabad’s influence in Afghanistan.” They say among other factors, this is because increased Pakistani influence in Afghanistan may lead to a reduced Indian presence.

They further write: “India’s room for maneuver in Afghanistan is constrained by structural aspects, such as its limited material capacities, reputational concerns, and lack of geographical contiguity. Unlike the United States, for instance, India does not have the financial resources to support state building in Afghanistan. In reputational terms, it values its role as a constructive regional player that has helped build the capacity of the Afghan state in economic, political and military terms. New Delhi requires partners both outside and inside Afghanistan to protect its presence and interests in the war-torn country. That led to an alliance with the Afghan communists in the 1980s, alongside the Soviet Union, and a similarly futile effort in the 1990s, when it threw its weight behind the so-called Northern Alliance with support from Iran and Russia. India’s latest choice of partner has been the Kabul government alongside the United States. Since 2001, under the security umbrella of U.S.-led NATO forces, India has built a sizable developmental and considerable intelligence footprint in Afghanistan, spending more than $2 billion in aid and infrastructural development, and reopened consulates across the war-torn country.”

As part of a clear, well-executed US strategy, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US military, General Joseph Dunford, has openly declared that “the Taliban are not losing in Afghanistan.” The US continues to extend military, political and economic pressure to convince the Afghan Taliban that it is in their interest to negotiate a political solution to the crisis with the government in Kabul. On the other hand, Russia hosted peace talks on Nov 9, 2018, for the first time with delegations from the High Peace Council (HPC), the Taliban and 12 countries, including Iran, Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, India and the US. Experts termed the initiative as seeking of greater role by Moscow in the international and regional diplomacy. The Moscow meeting was termed “a success for the Afghan Taliban and for the whole region because at least an initiative has been taken by a regional power Russia, which is very significant.”

But it should be noted that the freedom movement in Kashmir is indigenous in all sense and nobody is being sent from Pakistan across the LoC. The Indian belief that militants from abroad would join the held Kashmir fight is absurd; the fight in held-Kashmir is locally motivated against the Indian oppression. India’s ultimate goal in Afghanistan “will be the same as it always has been—keeping Pakistan from running the show” admit Harsh V. Pant and Avinash Paliwal in the Foreign Policy magazine. That says a lot.