No matter how naive our thinking is, we all can’t help ourselves but imagine what India will do with Afghanistan’s trouble. Isn’t that the big question? Should we recognise the Taliban government or support Northern Alliance rebels. What is to be done?
India-Afghan relations saw this advent in the British era where we concluded treaties with the rulers of the region, but soon after the Soviet invasion in 1979, we saw the shrinking space of India’s influence over Afghanistan. This gave other nations a chance to enter the troubled waters, thus giving rise to the dreaded entity Taliban or Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
Not repeating the same and cliched facts about Taliban rule, let’s analyse what can be India’s stand in the current tussle. Well, there are few options that India can pick out.
- India can recognise the Taliban government just like China or Russia did and treat it as par with the earlier government. But this would rule out India’s role as a responsible global leader and guardian of human rights.
- India can work closely with the Talibani faction to ensure that they rule as per law and Democratic spirit. But this seems highly unlikely as the Sharia law, which the Taliban faction claim to be their guiding light, is actually a depressing and oppressive authority to live under.
- India can totally ignore the Talibani control and cut off its ties with Afghanistan until a legitimate and elected government is established. But that will just take our $2-3 billion of investment down the drain with the other social works our nation has undertaken in the last 20 years.
- India can support the Northern Alliance in increasing its counter-offensive strategy against the Taliban. For example, India can follow the earlier example of offering its help to the “Panjshir ke Sher” to eliminate the Talibani. But this time, this step would require a huge scale of mobilisation of defence equipment, finances and probably army men.
- India can isolate both groups and plan some new strategy with other UN countries to pick up the last battle to finish off the Talibani.
But the main concern in all this point is: What Do Afghanis Want?
Do Afghanis want a rule by the local Talibanis, some foreign entity or just a government that respects their dignity and provides them with full civil, human and political rights?
As India has always furnished the idea of “Afghan-led development process that respect its people’s rights and plan for an inclusive and a responsible government“, we should engage all the stakeholders of this equation and come with an all-inclusive response.
Therefore, blindly supporting Talibani or the Northern Alliance is out of the question. Instead, what matters is the one who claims to rule by law, follow the democratic spirit and provide its people with a roadmap for a “New Afghanistan”.