India has been one of the oldest and most important supporters of a democratic government in Afghanistan and has always supported the positions of the Kabul government. However, India's role has always been on the sidelines since the start of the Afghan peace talks. But participating in the opening ceremony of the inter-Afghan talks in Doha, the Indian Foreign Minister Jay Shanker stressed New Delhi's long-standing support for the Afghan peace process. (Photo quoted from Yahoo’s website)
Although the US-Taliban agreement in India is seen more as a victory for the Taliban and Pakistan, the looks at Inter-Afghan agreement are different. Indian officials hope that the continuation of a strong and democratic government in Kabul can serve India's interests.
India has donated billions of dollars to Afghanistan since 2001 to develop infrastructure and humanitarian aid. Earlier, the Indian foreign minister emphasized India's $3billion financial commitments at the Geneva conference.
However, India wants its massive investments in the country to yield good results. In fact, India does not want the Taliban presence in Afghanistan to hinder India's economic ties and investment in the country.
There seems to be two general points of view in India toward the current Taliban:
The first view is the continuation of the past trend towards the Taliban. In fact, India as a strategic ally of the Afghan government, has always pursued a policy of non-negotiating with the Taliban in Afghanistan.
India also refused to contact the Taliban because of the sensitivity of the Afghan government.
In fact, there are still concerns among New Delhi officials about decreasing of India’s influence in Afghanistan, fears of increasing Pakistan's ISI role, strengthening the Haqqani network's role, and increasing Taliban ties with al-Qaeda and ISIS.
Another view inside India is looking for direct interaction with the Taliban. From this point of view, Taliban has become a peaceful and an important force in Afghan politics, so New Delhi must negotiate directly with the Taliban without any preconditions, and consider the possible political agreement between the Taliban and Kabul.
In fact, while the Taliban are expected to be a major part of power in Afghanistan soon, the group has stated that it is not opposed to the India's activities.
India is vigilant in its relations with the Taliban and in establishing diplomatic contacts with this group to protect Delhi's future interests. In this sense, in fact, reducing tensions with the Taliban will ensure India's continued influence in the future of Afghanistan's.
In addition, New Delhi is seeking to more interaction with a wider range of parties and opponents of the Taliban and Dr. Abdullah's faction in Kabul. India has formally invited Marshal Abdul Rashid Dostum and Atta Mohammad Noor, senior commanders of the Northern Front and former Delhi allies, to discuss the state of peace talks between the government and the Taliban.
India and leaders of parties and ethnic groups such as the Tajiks are concerned that the Taliban's presence in power will increase Pakistan's role in Afghan politics.
On the other hand, with the announcement of the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, India is worried that the situation in Afghanistan will return to the same condition in the country in the nineties. Islamabad, on the other hand, sees any Indian presence or influence in Afghanistan as a threat to its security.
New Delhi is concerned about the activities of extremist groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad inside Afghanistan and the influence of these groups in the Kashmir region against India. India also does not want China to replace it in Afghanistan. In fact, in order to combat the threats posed by the spread of terrorism in Afghanistan, India wants to be sure that they will not use Afghan territory against India.
Therefore, it emphasizes maintaining strong military, intelligence, cultural, economic and political relations in Kabul. In fact, India hopes that Delhi's concerns about Taliban-backed terrorist groups will be addressed in the inter-Afghan agreement.
In addition, part of India's strategy for Afghanistan is cultural influence and soft power. India wants to continue to pursue its goals by restraining Pakistan through soft culture and politics by maintaining influence after the inter-Afghan agreement.
Farzad Ramezani Bonesh
Senior Researcher and Analyst of International Affairs
