New Delhi (Defence Correspondent): With dispute between Pakistan and Afghanistan rising with every passing day and India at the same time deepening its ties with Afghanistan, the developments in this south Asian region have turned diplomatically interesting.
On one hand while Pakistan’s atrocities on Afghan refugees are making global headlines, Taliban’s foreign office has said they see India as a “significant regional and economic partner”.
In a significant diplomatic move, India also has said that it will provide support for rehabilitation of Afghan refugees who have been expelled from Pakistan.
The Afghan refugee families that have been expelled in Pakistan have complained about the mistreatment by Pakistan’s police detailing how their lives were made miserable and how living in Pakistan had become increasingly difficult due growing oppression by the Pakistani authorities.
According to TOLO News, from the Nangarhar department of Refugees and Repatriation, over the past year and a half, more than 66,000 families have returned to Afghanistan through the Torkham crossing alone, about 70% of whom have settled in Nangarhar.
Reacting on the same, India has condemned the Pakistani attack on civilians in Afghanistan, saying it was Islamabad’s old practice to blame its neighbours for its internal failure. Kabul has claimed that Pakistani airstrikes on the Paktika province of Afghanistan on December 24 last year resulted in the death of at least 51 people, including women and children.
Indian Foreign Ministry’s Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, we have noted the media reports on airstrikes on Afghan civilians, including women and children, in which several precious lives have been lost.
At the same time, in another major sign of India’s deepening ties with the Taliban, foreign secretary Vikram Misri recently met Afghanistan’s acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Dubai.
During this crucial meet, Misri is believed to have conveyed India’s readiness to respond to any needs of the Afghan people and in exchange got an assurance that the Taliban would not allow Afghan territory to be used against India by Pakistan.
This meeting is believed to be one of the highest level of engagement India has had so far with the Taliban since the latter took control of Kabul in 2021.
Experts also see the recent tensions between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban as a gamechanger of diplomatic relations between India, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
India is unarguably the most dominant member in the region.
Both, in terms of security and regional geopolitics, the ongoing dispute between the Afghan Taliban and Pakistan hold significant implications for India. While increased instability in Pakistan could retaliate on the India Pakistan border with causes of worry for India rising in terms of military movement, on the other hand, militant outfits like Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) may not restrict their territory to Pakistan but may cross over into India.
Other than violence, the situation may also escalate to a level of causing refugees influx into India what exactly India has witnessed since turmoil in Bangladesh and in Myanmar. This leads to causing strain on India’s western border like it has been on the eastern.
Even as a clash between the Taliban and Pakistan could weaken Pakistan’s leverage over the Afghan regime it does bring out an opportunity for India to enhance its engagement with Afghanistan and it has off late been doing so very evidently for the world to watch.
However, so far India’s outreach to Afghanistan is only so far being seen as a humanitarian assistance. But it is also India’s need to keep a tighter and continuous vigil on its neighbourhood as any significant change be it diplomatic or security wise, may very well affect India’s own sovereignty and integrity.
