PYQ Vault · Paper 2 · India & South Asia — Part 1

What steps has India taken to regain its foothold in Afghanistan since the Taliban has taken over the country in August 2021?

How the answer moves

The flow snapshot — the routes in, the body, the counter-view and the routes out.

Flow snapshot — how the answer moves
Intro routes
PT EEN Poe Se move 1: deal with the regime itself — mend ties realistically — counter “strategic depth” through security cooperation — JeM / LeT under a regime that looks the other way — distance costlier than contact — move 2: fall back on the delivery advantage — Sanjeev Kumar / Peking 2018 study — more than UN and NATO gave → $2 bn in energy and highways — China limited to relief and vaccines — move 3: hold the line on recognition — contacts with the ousted Republic's leaders — Russia engaged without unsettling the West — seat inside the Pa ON A RE ee I
Body flow
WN LLAN LAAN TED Sareen: engage, isolate, oppose together, engagement alone is not policy → Katju: still no permanent presence in Kabul — what has been pAartAarsrAan 1A aAhAnaAaAnA nA atannAince
Counter-view
was a at tN a a lant R1 Chaudhuri: facts used, not changed; recognition kept back as discretion — India is back in, on access not presence R2 the return rests on delivery record and calculation — firm only when presence in Kabul follows

Model answer

Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.

Handwritten model answer — UPSC PSIR 2023, India & South Asia — Part 1