Is India's Taliban policy changing?

In an interview with The Hindu, Zalmai Khalilzad, the US special envoy for Afghanistan, said that India should talk directly to the Taliban. This is probably the first time that a US official has offered India talks with the Taliban. India is the only country in the region that has no formal ties with the Taliban.

Although China, Iran and Russia also refused to recognize his government during the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, the three countries are now not only in contact with the Taliban, but Russia also agreed to the Afghan peace process in November 2018. He also hosted the Afghan Conference.

India has invested billions of rupees in Afghanistan in the last 20 years and Afghanistan has also tried its best to maintain its friendship with India. According to the Indian Embassy in Kabul, India has so far invested more than دو 2 billion in Afghanistan.

The friendship between New Delhi and Kabul also grew stronger as both accused Islamabad of helping the Taliban and militants fighting in Kashmir.

According to Afghan affairs analysts, there are two main reasons why India has not kept in touch with the Taliban. One accuses the Taliban of having close ties or backing with Pakistan, and the other of the Taliban supporting militants fighting against India in Kashmir. With the end of the Taliban regime in 2001, India sent its diplomatic staff back to Afghanistan after five years.

Former Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan Gautam Mokopadia was one of the diplomats who reopened the Indian Mission in Afghanistan. Mokopadia told the BBC that it was a friendly message to India that the Taliban could soon enter Afghan politics and that India should come on board.

According to American author Burnett R. Reuben, who has written three books on Afghanistan, Zalmai Khalilzad did not say that India should accept the Taliban as a parallel to the Afghan government, but just as the rest of the world has ties to the Taliban and other factions. Contact them and ask them to lay down their arms and get into practical politics.

According to Reuben, "Now that the Taliban are entering the Afghan political system, it would be good for India to stay in touch with them, just as they are in touch with Jamiat-e-Islami, General Dostum or Pashtun nationalists." '

According to Reuben, India's Taliban policy has already changed, when he sent two former diplomats to an inter-Afghan conference in Moscow in November 2018. Although the Indian Foreign Ministry had said at the time that the two diplomats were attending the conference "unofficially".

Sohail Shaheen, a spokesman for the Afghan Taliban's political office in Doha, told the BBC that the Taliban's political office was set up to share its policy with countries around the world. "Anyone who contacts us will be informed of our current and future policy."

According to Afghan journalist Sami Yousafzai, more Kashmiri and Punjabi "mujahideen" had infiltrated Afghanistan than al-Qaeda during the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, and India's concern at the time was justified. According to him, "now the Taliban can easily solve their problem with India."

According to former Indian ambassador Gautam, India has not yet rejected the Taliban but has not been in touch with them. According to Gautam, the Taliban should talk to the Afghan government before they talk to India and they should agree. "I am not speaking on behalf of the Indian government, but I will say that the Taliban should recognize the Afghan government before India and talk to them."

According to Afghan journalist Sami Yousafzai, if the Taliban remain in touch with India, they can partially dispel the impression that they now have so much Pakistani influence. According to him, on the other hand, India has now realized that the Taliban should not be viewed from the perspective of Pakistan alone.

Although many countries, including the United States, Germany, Russia, Iran, China and Pakistan, have direct or indirect contacts with the Taliban, would the Afghan government be concerned if Afghanistan's close friend India contacts the Taliban?

According to former Afghan Ambassador to India Sheida Mohammad Abdali, India is a close and sincere friend of Afghanistan in the region which, even if it stays in touch with the Taliban, will look after the interests of the Afghan government more than its own.

According to him, although it is not yet clear on what terms India agrees to talk to the Taliban, but given the friendship between India and Afghanistan, I can say that even if they do talk, it is in coordination with the Afghan government. Will do

Former Afghan Ambassador Sheida Mohammad Abdali believes that from the very beginning, the Afghan government has been trying to get countries in the region to play a role in the Afghan peace process. According to him, in these countries, if a friendly country like India contacts the Taliban, the Afghan government will not have any worries.

On the one hand, India has invested more than دو 2 billion in Afghanistan, and on the other hand, Pakistan has good and friendly relations with former jihadi leaders and the Taliban. Some Pakistani analysts believe that the former Mujahideen and the Taliban can do everything possible to defend Pakistan's interests in Afghanistan.

After 2001, as in India and Afghanistan As "historic relations" once again grew, so did concerns in Pakistan. Pakistan is concerned about why India is investing billions in Afghanistan and the Afghan government should be closer to Pakistan than India. In response, Afghanistan maintains that as a free and independent country, Pakistan has no right to have reservations about its relations with any other country.

Pakistan has accused the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as well as Baloch insurgents of using Afghan territory against Pakistan. On the other hand, India is still more acceptable to the Afghan people than Pakistan, and Pakistan's intelligence agency is still blamed for most of the extremism there.

According to Burnett R. Reuben, if Pakistan thinks that the Taliban in Afghanistan will defend Pakistan's interests, it will be a big mistake for Pakistan. According to him, the Taliban took refuge in Pakistan under duress and as they return to the mainstream in Afghanistan, their dependence on Pakistan will diminish