Profile
Settings
Refer your friends
Sign out
The Afghans under the Taliban regime is a group that had ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 and imposed a hard-line version of Islam which forbid women from availing educational opportunities, preached religious intolerance, and sheltered anti-Indian terror groups.
Meaning of Peace
Peace can be defined as the absence of war, but this is misleading. War is generally regarded as an armed conflict between countries, but sometimes internal issues represent a violation or cessation of peace. While every war causes an absence of peace, every absence of peace doesn’t take the form of war.
Peace is the absence of conflict of all kinds, such as war, massacre, riot, etc. But this is also not entirely true. Social institutions and practices that strengthen caste, class, and gender can also cause harm in unanalysed and invisible ways.
US-Taliban Peace Pact
In the immediate neighbourhood of India, the Afghan-Pak region is active. The stability and security of the region have a direct bearing on India’s growth and national security. In this regard, the US and India seem to be having divergent views.
While the US intends to withdraw all its troops from the region without considering its impact on India and other allies, India is concerned about the interests of the nation.
India and Taliban
India is perceived as a highly hostile country by the Taliban as India showed its massive support to the anti-Taliban force Northern Alliance during the 1990s.
When the Taliban was in power in Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, India had no diplomatic contacts with the Taliban.
India aided the overthrow of the Afghan under the Taliban regime in the early 2000s. And finally, the Strategic Partnership Agreement was signed between India and Afghanistan in October 2011.
India’s Relations with the Taliban improved after signing a strategic partnership agreement in 2011. India recently handed over a few MI-35 attack helicopters to the Afghan National Army to counter the Taliban as part of the agreement.
India is one of the highest civil aid donors to Afghanistan and has executed many essential projects.
As far as the crisis in Afghanistan is concerned, India’s position has been clear. The entire peace process must be Afghan-led and according to the wishes of the people of Afghanistan, and there cannot be a differentiation between the various terrorist groups. Pakistan has been quite successful in making the world believe in the concept of Good Taliban and Bad Taliban. India has refused to believe in this rather very dubious distinction.
Significance of Peace in Afghanistan for India
May and June of 2021 saw the Taliban take control of dozens of districts as the US drawdown grew closer, and several provincial capitals got within a few hundred kilometres of their authority.
However, because of the central government’s poor coordination and lack of ability to respond to insurgent attacks, the Taliban were able to quickly take control of Afghanistan and turn it into their own personal fiefdom.
The central government disintegrated in mid-August, and the Taliban had taken control of practically the entire country, even Kabul.
Because of the Taliban’s apparent desire to gain legitimacy on local and international fronts, many analysts expected a more accommodative government than the Taliban had previously managed.
In September, it appointed a hard-line transitional government, reopened schools only for boys, and reinstituted harsh criminal sentences – all indicators pointing to a lack of willingness to change.
Challenges Posed by the Pact for India
Pact is silent on other terrorist groups: Though parties to the agreement referred to Al-Qaeda as essential, the pact is silent on other terrorist and anti-India groups — such as Lashkar-e-Taiba or Jaish-e-Mohammed.
However, losing support from the Gulf states at a time when Afghanistan is experiencing a crushing economic crisis does not augur well for the Taliban. The Taliban have grown increasingly reliant on Iran, Pakistan, and China during their early attempts to establish contacts with the outside world. The Taliban is likely to look for new development partners to gain greater strategic autonomy, which would be good for India.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Afghan government and India have a cordial engagement association, and it is going to step up gradually on the US-Taliban agreement. Once it happens, they become a decisive voice in the various international forums regarding the future of Afghanistan. Having been elected as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, the given opportunity needs to be fully utilised for better welfare and relations of the Afghan people and to secure India’s national interests for the betterment of our country.
