The picture in Afghanistan is getting clearer. The Taliban gains complete sway over the landlocked nation and the US has little choice but to evacuate its men and leave the nation it held in its pocket for 20 years. The Taliban has ruled that the US must stick to its deadline of leaving the country by August 31 and it will run the nation from September 1. The militants have the fire-power while the Resistance by anti-Taliban outfits cannot retain steam. What is also clear is that the Pakistani establishment including the military brass and its ISI intelligence as also the terrorist networks based in Pakistan are working along with the Taliban in planning the future regional strategies. The Taliban has called for unity of Islamic nations just as the countdown has begun for the emergence of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan from next month.
President Joe Biden is duty-bound to honour the agreement signed between the US and the Taliban during the term of his predecessor Donald Trump. Without the US around, India has little relevance in Afghanistan as of now. China would be all too willing to help Afghanistan with funds and infrastructure support – something that India was doing alongside the US initiatives there to rebuild the war-torn nation. That experiment has collapsed. The warlords and militants will continue calling the shots there.
The good thing about India was that it had desisted from participating in military action against the Taliban or the other homegrown militants there. India ably helped build institutions and infrastructure there. Thanks must go more to Dr Manmohan Singh for adopting such a wise policy. India built the Parliament House there almost for free. It built roads and other infrastructure. In normal course, these should have enthused the Taliban. But, the Pakistani influence in the emerging power equations there will, first and foremost, mean a side-lining of India. India’s place there will likely be taken over by a more resourceful China with Pakistani scheming. There are no indications that the Taliban will have a soft corner for India. However, it is likely that good sense would prevail on the militants and they would accord a respectable space to India too alongside China in the future scheme of things. Pakistan has little to offer in this context other than exporting its terrorists to Afghanistan. The Taliban could smell a rat in this and might keep Pakistan at a safe distance. This is what India can hope for, at best, in the present context.
