PYQ Vault · Paper 2 · Recent Developments in Foreign Policy — Part 1
How does the recent takeover of Afghanistan by Taliban impact India’s strategic interests?
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
FOUN VINMF Orv —™ FIUW CHIC GHOWC! FIVVOS R1 Aug 2021 takeover undid two decades of Indian statecraft in one stroke + Menon’s “test case” for India’s leading-power claim R2 one reversal struck security, connectivity and regional balance together > costly on every front
Body flow
~USS3bn + goodwill exposed — security first: ISI proxies (LeT/JeM), ISIS-K, narcotics – Happymon Jacob: soft power insufficient, no Plan B + Chabahar / Delaram-Zaranj strained — China + Pakistan gain room for hostile Kabul axis + Taliban- Pakistan friction reopens space > Saraswat: Taliban transaction-minded, Islamabad rift = India’s opening > Muttaqi’s Oct 2025 Delhi visit + “no Afghan soil against India” + Kabul embassy upgrade
Counter-view
Katju: engagement buys leverage but risks legitimising the regime
Conclusion routes
R1 serious near-term reversal, yet core security and routes a. connectivity interests protected R2 calibrated engagement without recognition — impact contained, not permanent
Model answer
Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.
