How India and Pakistan See the Taliban’s Afghanistan
Taliban takeover against Afghanistan in August 2021 came as a surprise for many people. At the regional level, he raises concerns about the role of Pakistan in Afghanistan and its ongoing relationship with the Taliban. The use of Afghanistan from Pakistan as a proxy to maintain its influence has become a special concern for India,
who worked very closely with the previous governments in Afghanistan from 2002 to 2021 and closed their diplomatic missions after the Taliban takeover. Now the Taliban has completed its first year of government, it is important to explore how India and Pakistan are involved with Afghan Islamic Emirates under the Taliban 2.0.
When the Taliban first ruled the Afghan Islamic Emirates during 1996-2001, Pakistan was one of the three countries that officially recognized the government. So it is not surprising, that it is still important because of its influence on the Taliban. Following the 9/11 attack and the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001, Pakistan sided with the United States in “the war against terror,” through military operations against Taliban leaders in Pakistan.
The relationship, however, was restored quickly with active cooperation between Islamabad and the Taliban. Pakistan became the main ally in the political recovery of Taliban by supporting the peace process led by the United States, China and Russia and hosting the Taliban leaders and facilitating some peace dialogue involving stakeholders from Afghanistan and other regional and international actors.
Apart from its proximity and history of cooperation with the Taliban, the period since the takeover of the Taliban in August 2021 was a problem for Pakistan. Although the Taliban is seen as mostly as a friendly regime by Islamabad, the relationship is not yet free of problems due to various factors, including terrorism. Before talking about the Pakistani terrorism dilemma, i
t is important to mention that the Taliban also serves the national interests of Afghanistan and there are anti-Pakistan elements in the Taliban. The Taliban continues to maintain its opposition to the recognition of the durand line as a permanent border between Afghanistan and Pakistan and has rejected Pakistani military efforts to establish a fence along the border.
This has been reflected in several occasions, for example a Taliban official involved in lowering the Pakistani flag from a truck that brought humanitarian assistance from Pakistan in 2021. After dropping the flag, he openly said that he would burn it.
Apart from the significant achievement of terrorism in the past decade, Pakistan has faced the problem of terrorism that has increased since the takeover of the Taliban. This is reflected through more and more terrorist attacks in Pakistan by not only the provinces of Islamic states but also the leading anti-Pakistan terrorist group, Pakistani Tehrik-I-I-I-Taliban (TTP).
As reported by the report that there are more than 6,000 anti-Pakistani terrorists in Afghanistan, especially from TTP, it is not surprising that Pakistan has worked with the Afghan Taliban to overcome its TTP problem. In this case, the Haqqani Taliban network has mediates dialogue between Islamabad and TTP. This negotiation has caused a ceasefire agreement that may not survive after the new murder is a leading TTP leader, Omar Khalid Khorasani, in Afghanistan.
Since 2001, India has invested nearly $ 3 billion in development assistance to Afghanistan and was involved in several infrastructure projects. However, the presence of India’s diplomatic which surpassed the Kabul and its support for the anti-tibanic alliance ended with the arrival of the Taliban 2.0 in August 2021.
Although there were good intentions cultivated, India also remained absent from political negotiations in Afghanistan and February 2020 February 2020 striking Not present in Afghanistan and February 2020 February 2020 remained striking from political negotiations in Afghanistan and February 2020 February 2020 not present in Afghanistan and February 2020 February 2020 unclearly the Doha agreement which effectively brought the Taliban back to power in Afghanistan. India is very concerned about O attacks
