India is most concerned about British efforts to bring about a strategic partnership between Afghanistan and Pakistan. British Prime Minister David Cameron indicated the intention at a meeting with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai in London. India believes that Britain is looking at the issue from a Pakistan point of view and not involving India. Cameron is likely to visit India later this year and the issue may feature in the talks to be held in New Delhi. India and the US have established an understanding on the Afghan crisis and may arrange trilateral formal talks with Afghanistan. New Delhi has so far had no dealings with London on the issue which affects Indian interests significantly. This is why India takes a dim view of the UK’s move. It seems to place Pakistan at the centre of a peace initiative. Islamabad remains one of the principal sponsors of the Taliban. Senior Taliban leaders are given safe haven by it.
It goes without saying that a resolution of the Afghan crisis has to be dependent on bringing the Taliban into the power structure. US officials have indicated that the UK played a big role in drafting the 5 point peace proposal. There is concern in India about the talks held in Paris between Afghan and some moderate Taliban leaders. The Karzai government is not strong enough to hold its own and power sharing with the Taliban will ultimately lead to extremist Taliban chiefs exercising authority in Kabul. The US is pulling out of the country by 2014 and its promise of help to Kabul thereafter does not signify much. A Taliban-controlled Afghanistan in alliance with Pakistan will threaten India’s interests and push it out of the Afghan reconstruction programme. Is that what Britain has in mind? The US has a different take on the situation.