India’s ‘quiet meeting’ with Taliban ‘exploratory’ in nature

Even as India’s “quiet engagement” with the Taliban causes disquiet all around, it is understood to be an “exploratory” exercise, with some officials from security and strategic establishments being involved. Sources say that India does not want to take any chances as far as Afghanistan is concerned, given the huge amount of investment having been made by New Delhi in Kabul. Over 500 projects worth over $3 billion are being carried out by India.

With the US and NATO troops set to withdraw from trouble-torn Afghanistan completely by 11 September this year, India does not want to spare any effort that could protect its legitimate interests in this trouble-hit country. “With this backdrop in mind, India is in a kind of exploratory engagement with the Taliban, which is inching towards playing a significant role in the political future of Afghanistan after the withdrawal of US troops,” say sources.  

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) continues to be tight-lipped on the silent engagement with Taliban, but officials off-record say that this should not be seen as any unusual development in diplomacy. Sources say that such exploratory engagements are being limited to the Taliban factions which are not under Pakistan’s influence and not at the beck and call of terror forces.

A Qatari official recently said that Indian officials made a “quiet visit” to Doha in order to speak to the Taliban’s political leadership based there. “I understand that there has been a quiet visit by Indian officials to speak to the Taliban,” said Qatar’s Special Envoy of the State of Qatar for Counterterrorism and Mediation of Conflict Resolution Mutlaq bin Majed Al Qahtani, speaking at a web conference recently. Qahtani in response to a question said the reasoning behind the meeting was that the Taliban will have a “key” role in Afghanistan’s future.

Significantly, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar stopped over in Doha to meet with the Qatari leadership twice in the last two weeks.  The MEA has declined to comment on Qahtani’s statement, or the reports of such an engagement with Taliban.

What has been noticed in the past is that India has lagged behind other regional players such as Russia, China and Iran in establishing communication with the Taliban. India’s stand has been not to talk to the Taliban given their destructive role in Afghanistan. Rather, India has been alerting the USA to the impending threat of Taliban in the wake of troops’ withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, China appeared to be quite forthcoming in terms of entertaining the Taliban. Beijing even went to the extent of offering to mediate between the Taliban and the government of the day in Afghanistan. Sources say India needs to ascertain what is what in the Taliban camp in view of the global circumstances affecting Afghanistan dynamics. So, the question whether India feels to have been left isolated in the entire situation is something that needs to be answered by MEA. Indian diplomatic leadership is said to be moving cautiously in terms of its Afghan policy, keeping China and Pakistan in mind.  There is no denying both China and Pakistan do not want India to be influential in any manner in Kabul. Both the countries are seeking to play a more dominant role in what goes into formation of a new dispensation after the power-sharing deal.