The Afghan Embassy in New Delhi. File
| Photo Credit: AP
After weeks-long absence of clarity in India’s relation with Afghanistan, it is becoming apparent that India is progressively inching closer to a pro-engagement policy with the Taliban dispensation in Kabul. This policy is gaining ground with the fact that a part of the Afghan diplomats stationed in India have expressed willingness to continue consular work even in the absence of representatives of the pre-Taliban government of President Ashraf Ghani. There are however no official announcements of this as yet though it is widely believed that India will have to find a modality to help the Afghan students, refugees, patients and traders who have not severed ties with India despite the absence of formal diplomatic ties over the past more than two years.
Problem in relation was on display during the last few weeks when around 28 Afghan diplomats with allegiance to the previous government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan left India and announced “permanent closure” of the mission on November 23. A letter that was circulated online by the previous Afghan ambassador Farid Mamundzai, who is currently based out of a European city, had blamed the Indian authorities for lack of cooperation. Sources however have shared that Mr. Mamundzai’s decision to leave and the persistent differences and quarrels within the Afghan diplomats stationed in India had hampered smooth delivery of consular services to Afghan citizens. The dominant opinion in Delhi is that the announcement of closure of the embassy was an incorrect step as the Afghans serving here did not have the authority to do so as India at present does not have any formal diplomatic relation with Kabul. The decision however brought the existing Afghan diplomats in the Afghan consulates in Hyderabad and Mumbai to the forefront as they were in favour of continuing the consular work from the Afghan embassy in Delhi.
Taliban’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sher Mohammad Stanekzai, who in the meantime, insisted in an interview to Afghan channel RTA that Afghan officials in India whom he described as “our people” have taken charge of the embassy, also added to the emerging picture. Given the informal status of the previous occupants of the Afghan mission, it is understood that the mission was not “technically closed” as India does not have formal diplomatic links with Kabul at present. The Hindu had earlier reported that in case India allows the Afghan mission to function, the flag of the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” — the name of the Taliban-run administration — would not be allowed to fly on its premises. That apart, India is expected to watch out for official links between the staff and the Taliban in Kabul. India may have to take into consideration the welcome that Taliban’s “ambassador” Bilal Karimi has received in Beijing where he was received this week by a representative from Chinese MoFA’s protocol division. This is a significant move as China became the first permanent member of the UN Security Council to welcome a Taliban envoy through formal official protocol.
Helping hand
It should be noted that despite criticising the Taliban for its human rights record, India has sent 50,000 tonnes of wheat and 250 tonnes of medicines to Kabul in the last two years. That apart, India has sent educational kits to schools which are the worst hit as the Taliban has imposed a harsh crackdown on education for women. The emerging pro-engagement policy towards the Taliban is evidently being driven by accumulated recent experience. In June 2022, the embassy of India in Kabul became operational under an Indian “technical team” which has been functioning under the security assurances provided by the Taliban. In the frosty history of India’s ties with the Taliban which is still scarred by the 1999 memory of hijacking of IC814, the opening of the embassy in Kabul under a “technical team” is considered by some as a watershed point as it marked a turn in the diplomatic road that India had not travelled till then. The thinking in Delhi also has to take into account the existing bitterness in Afghan-Pak relation that has intensified after Islamabad began expelling Afghan refugees in the recent weeks. In the prevailing context, a source said India’s thinking may have to take into consideration that “Afghanistan is not an ideal situation” hinting that engagement minus recognition may emerge as a compromise formula that will help thousands of Afghans staying in India access consular services while providing India with a nascent channel with the Taliban to address concerns on the presence of Lashkar-e-Taiba and other terror groups in Af-Pak border areas.