Mulling the Contours of India’s Taliban Policy: Past, Present and Future Prospects

Abstract

India is faced with a conundrum—how to engage with an Afghanistan that is once again led by the Taliban. The question is less about whether to engage and more about how to engage. To understand this turn of events that is both surprising and yet seemingly inevitable, this article examines India’s policies vis-à-vis the Taliban since its early rise to power in 1990. It examines this relationship in four phases which correlate with the fortunes of the Taliban as an opposition and a governing regime, contending that these phases are characterised; by a potential discourse of engagement that does not translate into policy outcomes; distancing and opposition; gradual indirect acquiesce to its growing presence; and finally, détente of sorts without formal recognition. These policy transitions are a consequence of regional and global power play as well as domestic preoccupations of India. They span India’s secular and Hindutva-driven domestic narratives of self. The significance of this article lies in casting a broad overview of the existing literature and identifying patterns of engagement.

India-Afghanistan Relations in Changing Regional Geopolitics

“…Owing to the increasingly volatile security situation in Afghanistan (Toor, 2018), India withdrew its missions from Afghanistan in 1996. This allowed Pakistan, which already wielded considerable control over Afghan politics (Commuri, 2022; Paliwal, 2017a: 97), to strengthen its hold over various competing jihadist groups ( Mujahideen ), in effect fuelling the internal strife in Afghanistan. This, too, indicates that Indian non-engagement in Afghanistan would generate new security risks.…”

“…India also contributed towards building the new Afghanistan Parliament, inaugurated on 26 April 2019 by Narendra Modi. India also supported minor projects that would impact on the lives of ordinary citizens (Commuri, 2022: 483–4).…”