The rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan, perhaps more than any other country in the region, is a major shock to the Indian government and Prime Minister, and we must now look forward to future interactions between the two sides in the coming months.
Pak Sahafat News Agency, International Group: The rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan and the fall of the fledgling government, in addition to worries about Afghanistan’s future and the domestic political situation in the hearts of its neighbors and even non-European neighbors, also raised a more important issue: the complete shift in the balance of power in the region and the playing field between regional and trans-regional actors in Afghanistan.
What is certain is that Afghanistan and its government, during the twenty years of the US presence, have been a kind of colony of the United States and European powers. But now, with the withdrawal of US troops and Washington allies from NATO, Afghanistan has fallen to the Taliban. The leaders of this group, despite their previous rule, have stated that Kabul experienced different conditions during the rule of the “new Taliban” and the new Taliban government wants to establish continuous diplomatic relations with all countries of the world based on the principles of Islamic law.
This new position of the Taliban, however, has been the most difficult part of the story and has confused all foreign actors in Afghanistan. The question is if the Taliban have learned politics over the past 20 years, as its supporters claim, and are pursuing its own slogans, then they will have to wait and see what their foreign policy decision is. Will US and Western allies have a place in Afghanistan’s future, or should they give in to their bad luck?
Undoubtedly, one of the most important and influential countries in the foreign policy of the former government of Afghanistan was India and the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Now, perhaps Afghanistan’s most concerned neighbor is the rise of the Taliban in that country, but India, which is worried not only about the future of its investments in Afghanistan, but also about its internal security.
India Security Concerns
On September 29, the Indian Foreign Ministry announced the first official meeting of the Indian Ambassador with a senior Taliban leader in Qatar. The Indian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that its ambassador to Qatar, Deepak Mittal, had an official meeting today with Shir Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, a senior Taliban leader in Qatar, at the request of the Taliban.
According to the Indian Foreign Ministry, the talks on Indian nationals in Afghanistan and their security in the country were among the important issues raised during the meeting.
The Indian ambassador to Qatar also spoke to the Taliban leader about his country’s concerns about the possibility of Indian opposition militias using Afghan territory for terrorist attacks against his country, and that Shir Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai had assured the Indian side that such a problem would not occur.
The focus of this conversation may reflect India’s most important security concerns about the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan. The Indian government provided significant military assistance to Afghanistan during the reigns of the fledgling Afghan governments of Hamid Karzai and Ashraf Ghani, prompting Ashraf Ghani to reach out to New Delhi in the last days of his rule to find a solution to confront the Taliban; The request, of course, met with a cold response from New Delhi, and in practice, India, despite its extensive assistance to the Afghan government in recent years, chose to remain silent on the issue. The reason for this Indian action is also clear; if the Taliban come to power in Afghanistan, India may be the main victim of this change in Afghanistan’s power structure.
One of the characteristics of Indian society is the existence of strong religious beliefs in the minds of most of its citizens. The position of religion in India is such that even the two most powerful parties in the country, the Baharat Jonathan Party and the Congress Party, along with other major parties such as the Muslim League, have acted entirely on religious beliefs and their election slogans in line with religion of Hinduism or Islam is regulated and propagated as the two major religions in this country.
Unfortunately, the history of Muslim-Hindu relations in India has at one time or another been fraught with bloody religious conflicts that continue in India. On the other hand, Modi’s government, which hails from Jonathan’s Bharat party, strongly believes in Hinduism, and perhaps the greatest dissatisfaction with his government’s years of activity in India lies with the country’s Muslims.
Possible position of the Indian government against the Taliban
But given the above, the important question is what will be the position of the Indian government against the Taliban? Should we see tensions in relations between the new Taliban-led Afghan government or, conversely, will New Delhi tolerate possible Kabul tolerance?
Now it seems that the answer to this question has become a little easier by mentioning the above. Although everything in the world of politics may change in a matter of hours, New Delhi’s overall stance against the Taliban appears to be a continuation of the conservative and tolerant stance of India’s ambassador to Qatar. The truth is that despite widespread criticism in Indian society of Narendra Modi’s policies, especially in the field of foreign policy and internal control, especially in the face of the Corona outbreak, the Indian Prime Minister and his government is not in a position to add a great security challenge to your current troubles.