New Delhi, July 17 India has a long history of engagement with the Taliban — which has often irked the government in Pakistan, which is keen to minimise Delhi's involvement in Afghanistan, journalist Hamid Mir wrote in an opinion piece for Washington Post.
Indian officials made their first direct contact with the Taliban in 2013, when they issued a visa to senior Taliban leader Abdul Salam Zaeef for a conference.
Zaeef was the Taliban's ambassador to Pakistan, but after 9/11 the Pakistani government arrested him and handed him over to the United States.
"Later, his book, 'My Life with the Taliban' was published in India in 2010. His name was also removed from the U.N. terrorism list; at some point after that he turned up in India. A big question remained: Why did he agree to visit India and why did India let him in?" Mir said.
He added that the Afghan Taliban were not happy with Pakistan's U-turn after 9/11.
Zaeef explicitly expressed his displeasure against the Pakistani security establishment in his book. He wrote: "They have two tongues in one mouth, and two faces on one head so they can speak everybody's language; they use everybody, deceive everybody." He criticised how his colleagues were tortured in Pakistani prisons.
A senior Taliban leader, Abdul Ghani Baradar, was arrested in Pakistan in 2010. This arrest was a turning point. Baradar was in contact with former Afghan president Hamid Karzai, who was pushing Russia, Iran and India to start a dialogue with the Taliban.
Pakistan was unhappy with Baradar's contacts with Karzai and arrested him. This humiliation at the hands of Pakistan forced the Taliban to open channels with Russia, Iran and India. They were careful in dealing with India, Mir said.
Pakistan released Baradar in 2018, and the Taliban appointed him head of the negotiating team in Qatar. In the same year some senior Taliban leaders met with Indian representatives in Moscow.
They wanted to neutralise India because the Ind had supported anti-Taliban forces in the past. Meanwhile, India was interested in engaging the Taliban because Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had failed to make a united front against them.
"India invested billions of dollars in Afghanistan after 9/11, even constructing a new Parliament building in Kabul. India also built dams, roads, schools, universities, hospitals and sports stadiums in different parts of the country. All this would go to waste if it didn't engage with the Taliban," Mir said.
Mir said last year, the United States also asked India to engage with the Taliban. The Ind were worried that a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan could encourage militancy in Jammu & Kashmir (as the Russian withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989 had done).
Mir said the Taliban made it clear to India they would not interfere in Kashmir. The Taliban also knew that India was providing military support to the Ghani regime. They warned India to remain impartial, Mir added.
He added that last month, a top Qatari official disclosed that Indian officials and Taliban leaders had held a meeting in Doha. Pakistan was not happy with these reports.
In fact, Pakistan rejected including the Ind in Afghan peace talks. Although Pakistan has been engaging with India recently (both countries announced a ceasefire agreement in February), Pakistan has never been keen on engagement between the Taliban and India.
Recently, Pakistani security officials told parliamentar in a closed-door meeting that the Afghan Taliban are no longer cooperative and that they want to take over Kabul by force. In this meeting, the officials also said that there is no difference between the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban, who have been attacking Pakistani security forces for a long time. Pakistan has always accused the Pakistani Taliban of being supported by India.
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