Published 21:00 IST, October 3rd 2019
Pakistan backs Taliban; counters India's support for democratic Afghan
New Delhi has never considered the Taliban as a legitimate political actor in the region, unlike Pakistan, who backed the militant group over the Afghan govt.
New Delhi has sternly refrained from considering the militant organisation Afghan Taliban, as a legitimate political actor in Afghnistan, unlike Pakistan. Ever since the Taliban's inception in the 1990s, Pakistan's foreign policy in Afghanistan has often favoured the armed militant group, besides, considered it as a legitimate representative of Afghanistan, instead of the democratic government in Kabul.
Islamabad's Afghan policy has been catapulted to counter New Delhi's influence in Afghanistan, considering India's backing for the Kabul government of the country, which has brought some democratic normalcy in the war-torn country. Islamabad, moreover, by supporting the Taliban has contradicted New Delhi's influence in Afghanistan, that has significantly contributed economically, culturally to the neighbour, and been the largest regional contributor to the reconstruction of a war-torn Afghanistan.
To accentuate further, according to documents released by whistleblower Julian Assange's WikiLeaks, from the hacked personal email account of former CIA director John Brennan, it was confirmed that a threatened Pakistan has been actively maneuvering terror operations as proxies to counter India's growing influence in Kabul.
"Pakistan's desire to counter India's growing influence in Afghanistan and concerns about US long-term commitments to Afghanistan increase Pakistan's interest in hedging its bets by ensuring that it will be able to have a working relationship with the Taliban to balance Indian and Iranian interests if the US withdraws," Brennan wrote on November 7 in 2008.
On the contrary, India has consistently backed for an "inclusive peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan, which is Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled, leading to a lasting political solution based on the preservation of the gains" made since the US' invasion back in 2001.
Pakistan's proximity to the Taliban comes despite the armed group's reluctance towards a democratic process and the infamous ideology of oppression towards women. While Islamabad has been keen to play an influential role in the US-Taliban peace negotiation, which was abruptly called off by US President Donald Trump, it has never initiated to convince the militant group to abandon violent means and initiate a dialogue with the democratic Afghan government, to bring a sense of stability in the war-torn country.
India's concern with the US-Taliban peace negotiation also involves that it "should not lead to any ungoverned spaces where terrorists and their proxies can relocate," thus making Afghanistan a hotbed for terrorism with the bonhomie between the Pakistan government and the Taliban, inducing a direct threat in Kashmir. Even US President Trump has accused Pakistan of “housing the very terrorists that we are fighting.”
Taliban
With the assistance of Pakistan, the armed group came into existence in 1994 under the leadership of Mullah Mohammed Omar. The Taliban chief's bonhomie with the 9/11 mastermind, Osama bin Laden enabled him to move Al Qaeda's base of operations in Afghanistan's Kandahar. Palpably, Pakistan's hypocritical stand in favour of the Taliban has repeatedly unmasked its endeavors to curb terrorism brimming on their soil, under the eyes of the international community and The Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
Updated 10:32 IST, March 1st 2020