{"id":194230,"date":"2022-07-05T17:17:02","date_gmt":"2022-07-05T11:47:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=194230"},"modified":"2022-07-05T17:18:38","modified_gmt":"2022-07-05T11:48:38","slug":"shanthie-mariet-dsouza-writes-a-balancing-act-in-re-establishing-indian-presence-in-afghanistan-timing-and-tact-are-crucial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/shanthie-mariet-dsouza-writes-a-balancing-act-in-re-establishing-indian-presence-in-afghanistan-timing-and-tact-are-crucial\/","title":{"rendered":"Shanthie Mariet D\u2019Souza writes: A balancing act \u2014 In re-establishing Indian presence in Afghanistan, timing and tact are crucial"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source<\/strong>: The post is based on an article \u201cA balancing act in re-establishing Indian presence in Afghanistan, timing, and tact are crucial\u201d published in the Indian Express on 5th<\/sup> July 2022.<\/p>\n

Syllabus: <\/strong>GS2 – International Relations; Bilateral Relations<\/p>\n

Relevance: <\/strong>India-Afghanistan Relations<\/p>\n

News<\/strong>: Recently, India has re-established its diplomatic presence<\/strong> in Afghanistan, after a strategic retreat from Kabul following the Taliban takeover in August 2021.<\/p>\n

India\u2019s engagement with Afghanistan Since Taliban Takeover<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Even after the closure of its consulates and embassy, India has never abandoned Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

India has continued to express concerns about the humanitarian crisis<\/strong> in the country and it has built regional consensus <\/strong>about the threat of terrorism<\/p>\n

It has voiced its support for an inclusive government,<\/strong> and it has also provided aid and assistance<\/strong> to the people of Afghanistan. This has been in accordance to the Agreement on Strategic Partnership (ASP)<\/strong> 2011.<\/p>\n

Recent efforts of India <\/strong><\/h5>\n

(1) India sent a small technical team to Kabul to deal with the humanitarian crisis following the earthquake in Paktika and Khost provinces.<\/p>\n

(2) India handed over relief materials for earthquake victims, to the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) and the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) in Kabul.<\/p>\n

(2) In addition, India has also reopened its embassy in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

Significance: <\/strong>It is a signal that New Delhi is back to retrieve its lost leverage<\/strong> in Afghanistan since Taliban takeover.<\/p>\n

The moves have the potency of securing many of India\u2019s strategic interests<\/strong> in the long-term strategy.<\/p>\n

Why has India changed its stand? <\/strong><\/h5>\n

(1) There is a realisation that the Taliban regime is there to stay and would not be dislodged from power at least in the near-medium term. Therefore, India decided to build a working relationship.<\/p>\n

(2) There is a belief that India should not complete detach, rather, it should engage to secure India\u2019s huge strategic interests<\/strong> in Afghanistan. India should win over the moderates in Taliban and dilute the agenda of the hardliners. It should do business with the Islamic Emirate of the Taliban<\/strong> instead of turning it anti-India <\/strong>as was done in 1996 when India shut its embassy for five long years.<\/p>\n

(3) New Delhi should not wait for an elusive international consensus<\/strong> to engage with Taliban. The Western world is preoccupied with the Ukraine war. Further, Indian adversaries may use this time for their advantage and to restart proxy warfare<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Way Forward<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The Afghanistan earthquake provides a reason for India to revisit its 11-month-old policy<\/strong>. Its if important for both sides to engage.<\/p>\n

The Taliban has followed up with two back-to-back statements <\/strong>on strengthening its defence relationship with New Delhi. It has also offered to give back jobs to the former members of the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces (ANDSF)<\/strong> who were trained in India.<\/p>\n

However, while smoothening relationship with Taliban, India needs to tread cautiously<\/strong>. India should keep the people of Afghanistan<\/strong> and not the current regime, at the centre<\/strong> of its declared Afghan policy<\/strong>. It means, the legitimacy and acceptance of the Taliban <\/strong>by the Afghan people should be the fulcrum of any such engagement.<\/p>\n

For Taliban<\/strong><\/p>\n

Taliban should strive towards an inclusive government<\/strong> and frame a comprehensive long-term policy <\/strong>to engage with all the stakeholders to ensure that peace and stability return to Afghanistan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: The post is based on an article \u201cA balancing act in re-establishing Indian presence in Afghanistan, timing, and tact are crucial\u201d published in the Indian Express on 5th July 2022. Syllabus: GS2 – International Relations; Bilateral Relations Relevance: India-Afghanistan Relations News: Recently, India has re-established its diplomatic presence in Afghanistan, after a strategic retreat… Continue reading Shanthie Mariet D\u2019Souza writes: A balancing act \u2014 In re-establishing Indian presence in Afghanistan, timing and tact are crucial<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10328,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[212,10500],"class_list":["post-194230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-indian-express","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704701236},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10328"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194230\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}