February 14, 2025

India -Afghanistan Recalibrating Age-Old Ties

India's latest diplomatic outreach to Afghanistan's Taliban government signals a marked shift in how it sees the geopolitical reality in the region.
India, Afghanistan, Taliban, Pakistan, Global South
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Introduction:

Some political analysts infer that India’s move to upgrade the level of diplomatic talks with Afghanistan is in reaction to Pakistan’s newly discovered familiarity with Bangladesh’s warden Muhammad Yunus. India-watchers accustomed to taking a partisan view of India-Pakistan estrangement may like to add another dimension to the Indo-Pak spat. They either pretend to be unaware of history or want to distort it.

Historic Bonds:

India-Afghanistan relations go to distant antiquity. The Hindu Shahi dynasty ruled  the Kabul Valley and surrounding regions from approximately  843 until 1026 CE. Kallar, a Brahmin vizier, founded the dynasty after overthrowing Lagaturman, the last Turk Shahi king.  The Brahman Shahis of North Gandhara (meaning Kabul) had cordial relations with the rulers of the ancient Kashmir Hindu kingdom of Karkota.

During the rule of Kushans, Peshawar (Pushkalavati), Balkh (Bhakri of Rig Veda) and Mazar-i Sharif were prominent centres of Buddhism. The historical Navbahar (Nava Vihara) of the Buddhists of Balkh was the most reputed Buddhist temple whose chief monks belonging to the Pramukh clan (from Kashmir and Kangra) were converted to Islam and taken as captives to the court of the Abbasid Caliph al-Haroon in Baghdad,  They became the famous Barmaks in Iranian-Arab history and the Barmecides of European historians. It is they (renamed as Abu Sahl) who established the Daru’l Hikmat or the House of Knowledge in Baghdad where the scholars of the day translated the most important works of the Greek philosophers into Arabic and thus disseminated Hellenic knowledge in the Arab world and eventually in Europe..

During India’s freedom struggle against colonial rule, Afghan rulers provided a safe haven to many Indian political activists whom the colonial power wanted to arrest for alleged sedition. Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, known as Frontier Gandhi, was an ardent disciple of Gandhi Ji and resisted the partition of India in 1947.

Post-independence India maintained cordial relations with Afghanistan by opening a new channel for infrastructure development in the country. India has invested more than 3 billion dollars in the developmental projects. These include roads, bridges, dams, structures, parliament houses, hospitals, dispensaries, etc.

Chahbahar Angle:

Since Pakistan does not allow India to have overland connectivity to Kabul, with the sole purpose of preventing India and Afghanistan from working together to improve the destiny of the Afghan people, India has been forced to look for an alternative route. The option of Chabahar, the Iranian seaport in the Persian Gulf, came up for consideration by the Indian External Affairs Ministry.  After protracted negotiations, Iran agreed to give Chabahar on lease to India. The port has been developed and connectivity to Central Asia via Sirakhs on the Turkmenistan – Iran border has been established. The next stage of the Chahbahar project is the road and rail link between Chabahar and Kabul via the Helmand Valley. That will connect Kabul with Ashkhabad in Turkmenistan.

Pakistan factor:

 The long-standing policy of Pakistan, a country carved out of India based on religion includes the compulsion of telling the world that as a puritanical Islamic state, it has adopted a policy of hatred and animosity towards India.  Pakistan has always regarded Afghanistan as its backdoor to the West. To attain strategic depth, Pakistan has been interfering in the internal politics of its Western neighbour, using religion as an effective instrument. Once the Taliban succeeded in ousting NATO and US forces from their land, Pakistan began asserting its dominance, thinking that the Taliban would be compliant. That was not to happen and the Taliban asserted their control and sovereignty over Afghanistan.

This was a shock to Pakistan. But a greater jolt was yet to come. Taliban refused to accept the Durand Line as a border and took up arms to protect their ethnic kindred across the illegal Durand Line. Now the fighting is raging between the two sides. As the Pakistani Air Force bombarded some areas of Paktia Province under the pretext that it is a hiding place for the TTP, the Tehrik e Taliban, several Afghan civilians including children were killed in the Pak bombing. The Taliban have retaliated and openly declared that the TTP is their close ally. The Taliban, in cooperation with the TTP, are reported to have seized a couple of Pakistani army posts along the Durand Line.

Towards the Global South

Without intervening in the Pak-Afghan quarrel, India stuck to its age-old relations with Afghanistan and provided Kabul with aid, consisting of wheat, medicines, anti-COVID vaccines, facilities for the treatment of sick Afghan citizens in India and many other things. This was not a ploy to encourage Afghanistan’s estrangement from Pakistan.  Pakistan is responsible for alienating the Taliban. History tells us that Afghans have never lost a battle and have always forced invaders out of their soil. How can Pakistan expect to submit the Taliban, even if they are  Pakistan’s creation?

After the Taliban ousted the elected government and assumed the reins of power, India took care not to distance itself from the people of Afghanistan and maintained a semblance of old friendship even at a time when no foreign power was willing to recognise the Taliban government.  India played her cars well. Behind the curtain contacts between the two sides continued. In September last, a high-ranking officer in the Indian MEA met with his counterpart in Kabul and, a little later foreign minister Dr Jaishankar had a meeting with the Taliban leadership. More recently, on January 8, Indian foreign secretary Vikram Misri met with the Afghan foreign minister Mulla Muttaqi in Dubai, in what is considered the first formal top-level diplomatic meeting between the two sides. The Afghan side reiterated its commitment not to allow its soil to be used by any terrorist group for anti-India activities. India promised to recalibrate its comprehensive programme for building necessary infrastructure including those projects which had been halted owing to unsettled conditions in Afghanistan.

India’s recalibrating offer will strengthen Afghanistan’s economy and restart the development process; cordial relations with the world’s largest democracy will enhance the Taliban’s credibility in the international community. India will support all initiatives that lead to peace and security in Afghanistan and the region and at the same time will exhort the Taliban leadership to provide some fundamental human rights for their people, especially the women. Restoring Indo-Afghan relations is a master stroke that can ease Afghanistan’s re-entry into the new order taking shape in the Global South.

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K N Pandita

K N Pandita has a PhD in Iranian Studies from the University of Teheran. He is the former Director of the Centre of Central Asian Studies, Kashmir University.

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