Is India looking at setting up a limited presence in the Taliban's Kabul? There are news reports which suggest that the government is mulling over setting up a sub-embassy level presence for liaison work.
The Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan was bad news for India, which had maintained a very strong anti-Taliban stance throughout, even though other countries had gradually begun engaging with Taliban leadership in Doha, especially in the later years, when it was becoming clear that the US would exit the country, and in that eventuality, the power would go back to where it came from.
India shut its Kabul embassy on August 17, 2021. Taliban, which was gaining territory gradually, took over Kabul on August 15. India managed evacuations of its nationals, as well as the Hindu and Sikh Afghans via Dubai and Jordan. At the time of the Taliban takeover, there were several thousand Afghans in India, many undergoing training in the various institutes and academies in the country, others on medical visas.
India has been careful in its response to the Taliban. It has made no statement to antagonise the present leadership, although it made no overt move to reach out either, unlike China and Pakistan, which were prompt to do so. On August 31, India's envoy to Qatar Deepak Mittal met Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, the then head of the Taliban's political office in Doha. The government said the meeting was arranged at the Taliban's request and did not elaborate much on what was discussed.
India, which has maintained that there is no distinction between good and bad terrorists, finds itself in a spot with the Taliban firmly in place in Kabul. Taliban leadership is seeking global recognition, it asked the United Nations to recognise it at the time of the United Nations General Assembly, but there was no response. Recognition of a regime takes its own processes.
However, over the months, many countries are back to establishing a working presence in the country. Kabul is too important from the strategic and security viewpoints of the world, for them to pretend it no longer exists. For India, too, Afghanistan is a very important country. India needs to ensure that Taliban territory is not used to target terror activities against India.
Over the last two decades, under the US security protection, India's soft diplomacy outreach toward Afghanistan was phenomenal. It focussed on capacity building, setting up institutions and training Afghans in various areas. India built the Afghan Parliament Building and the Salma Dam, two huge and landmark infrastructure projects. It was in the process of starting work on the Shatoosh Dam when the regime changed. To be able to reap the benefits of all the investments in Kabul, which earned India goodwill then, India knows it cannot abandon the Afghan citizens. Thus, it has sent wheat via Pakistan to Afghanistan. To continue at least goodwill work on this level, India needs to have some kind of official presence in Afghanistan sooner or later.
