Should India open the channel of Communication with Taliban or not?

Pic Source: Kerala Kaumudi

We have Taliban which has imposed a ban where a woman would not be able to go out she would not be able to work she would not be able to make a living in this society. So they have imposed a ban on girls and women where they would not be able to enter the schools, gyms, public parks, so on and so forth.

Added to it Taliban had also made a promise that it will be an inclusive society, where the minorities will also be respected as well. Is it now highly inclusive society? No, they are omitting the minorities from the inclusive schemes and programmes of the Government of Afghanistan and at the same time, they had also promised that they would disallow the terror groups operating on Afghanistan, they will eliminate, not give a chance to other terrorist organisation to operate in Afghanistan. This basically means as of now, everything is not in line. They are not listening to their own words. The promises that they had made is all false.

Should India continue to engage with Taliban?

India's policy is based on realism, what is this realism, it is all about self interest, irrespective of what happens in the global economy, irrespective of what happens in the global geopolitics or the politics at the internal level, what is of interest for us, that is what is taken into the picture. So, realism is that part of international relations, where every country will start focusing on those aspects, not on morality ground, but only on the grounds of what is best suited for our country. As of now, what India is planning, or India has done is only in terms of the realism. Who's heading the government in Afghanistan. So it is Taliban. So we have to engage with them and we also have a policy that irrespective of what kind of politics that comes in, which kind of government that comes in, that is not under our control. So whatsoever is the government, whatsoever is the ideology that is present in a country, we have to keep discussing with that government is the first articulation. So the first argument is, irrespective of whosoever is the government ideology, people backing it, we have to go with the realism principle and ultimately, what we have to do is right now, Taliban is running the government so we have to continue to be part of speaking to them is the first argument.

When we have to speak about Afghanistan, it is people's to people's relation that we have to look at, we have also made a promise that we will take care of the people of Afghanistan in the tough times. So if we have to do that, we have to keep speaking to the Taliban as well, we have to keep sending them aid as well, only then we would be able to take care of the people of Afghanistan. So if we don't speak to Taliban, how can we provide aid to Afghanistan? If you don't speak to Taliban? How can we export the food items to Afghanistan, this cannot be done. So we need one of the channels where we can constantly keep a check and speak to the people and that is how we have Taliban, which has become the bridge right now, since Taliban is the government in Afghanistan, we have to speak to them. Only if we speak to them, we have one of the channels that is opened up. So we have to speak to them is the second argument.

The third argument is that Taliban is using this as a bargaining tool to get what they want from the international community. They are saying that we will not be providing the rights to the women, they are saying that minority rights will not be provided. So is it a bargaining strategy of the Taliban? Yes. So in this particular case, we have very little space, we have to somehow extend some help. So if we do not engage with Taliban, how else will we be able to convince the Taliban, we don't know whether Taliban would listen to us or not. But we need a channel, we need to ensure that we are constantly in touch with Taliban so that we can make at least minute changes in that particular place. So to bring these minor changes, what we require is a constant support of Taliban. So we should continue to be part of speaking to Taliban is the third argument.

The fourth argument is with respect to the Haqqanis. If there is any country that has considerable influence on Taliban, it is basically Pakistan. Why? Because it has the largest influence on the Haqqanis. Now, if Pakistan has not been able to get Taliban to stop terror groups coming into Pakistan, can others do it? No. So if Pakistan is not able to influence Afghanistan and Taliban, other countries would not be able to do so. But we also have to keep this momentum going, we have to keep talking as well and at the same time, what we also have to remember is that we are speaking to that section of the Taliban, which as a group has never been anti India as well. So we are able to send the exports, we are able to deliver governance to the people, we are able to deliver the aid, we should continue to talk with Taliban in Afghanistan.

Why Should India not engage with Taliban?

India after 2001 basically believed in Afghan led democratic process. We also wanted people to have their own government. We also believe that democracy should be present in Afghanistan. There should be an elected government as well, there should be the president, the prime minister, women inclusive policies that have to be taken as well. In the last couple of years, women were also able to study as well, there were a number of measures that were taken by the global community. India also built Salma dam, it also created parliament as well, why did we do all that? That is because keeping in mind that we are able to have a beautiful relationship with the government established by Democracy. Now, we have Taliban there. So why should we speak to them? That is the first point. So Taliban does not respect the women, all the advantages that were garnered for the last one decade or so everything is put to the side role. And it is in this particular backdrop, people who have trusted us, people who believed us, people who supported us in Afghanistan, they are not gonna trust if we go and speak to Taliban is another viewpoint. So we should not be speaking to Taliban because there are people in Afghanistan who also oppose Afghanistan's Taliban. So in this particular case, to provide them a backup and emotional support, we have to support such people. So we should not be speaking to Taliban is the first argument.

The second argument is in terms of non Taliban opposition. What is this non Taliban opposition, this basically means you have people who are opposing Taliban through in Afghanistan, for example, we have the National Resistance Front, it was one supported by Ahmed Shah Massoud, then there is Northern alliace as well, these are the people or the movements of already opposed Taliban's rule in Afghanistan.

So India should always keep diplomacy open, it should also have line of communication with such people as well, and if need be in direct support will also have to be given as well. So we should stop speaking to these people that is the Afghan Taliban. But at the same time, there are existence of non Taliban opposition, keep speaking to them, open the line of communication, if they are able to generate the support, if they're able to sideline the Taliban, we should be supporting them is another argument.