Monitoring Desk: The Wednesday meeting of Indian Secretary of External Affairs Vikram Misri with the acting foreign minister of Afghanistan Amir Khan Muttaqi, in Dubai, testified that Afghanistan’s friends who brokered this meeting are satisfied with the results as both the countries decided to engage in sharing information for security updates, will get involved in development works, resume regular Kabul-Delhi flights and ensure presences of Indian workers in Kabul.
For a year, sane elements in Pakistan have been claiming that Washington, Delhi, and Kabul are on the same page over certain regional issues and constant financial help of the United States to Kabul was not without any reason. This meeting was held in the backdrop of news that Washington is constantly funding the Taliban and up to $87 million per week in cash, $10 million per month for the Taliban’s Doha office in Qatar, $446 million out of Operation Enduring Sentinel (OES). It was also claimed by a US-based Think Tank that $3.5 billion was taken from Afghanistan’s legitimate government reserves and channeled for use by the Taliban. Is this situation not alarming for China and Pakistan which are facing attacks of TTP on their citizens while TTP is being hosted by Afghan Taliban?
An article published in Express Tribune titled “Brewing US-Taliban proximity and Pakistan” claimed that the US might facilitate the re-emergence of Indian intelligence within Kabul as part of a larger deal with the Afghan Taliban – something that is sandwiching Pakistan between East and West borders where Indian interests are sitting on both sides. The meeting between the Indian Secretary of External Affairs Vikram Misri and with acting foreign minister of Afghanistan Amir Khan Muttaqi ended with a statement released by the Taliban’s Foreign Affairs Ministry confirming that India and Afghanistan will collaborate in security-related fields. New Delhi will get involved in development projects and provide humanitarian assistance to Kabul while Afghanistan will also use the Indian-run Chabahar port in Iran for its trade activities.
“The meeting marked the highest level of dialogue between India and the Taliban since the latter seized Kabul in August 2021” Indian media reported.
A DW report titled “Why India is Boosting Diplomatic Relations with the Taliban” indicates that this is a move to counter China. It is understood that countering China is not the sole desire of India but it is an integral part of the Indo-US strategic partnership. Intelligence circles believe that in June 2022, India sent a “technical team” to Kabul to coordinate the delivery of humanitarian assistance and to see how New Delhi could support the Afghan people, and members of this “technical team” were surely undercover Indian intelligence officers who with an understanding with Taliban landed in Kabul to operate for ‘joint interests in the region’. Out of this deal, India allowed Taliban representative, Ikramuddin Kamil, to work at the Afghan consulate in Mumbai.
It may be mentioned that in November, senior foreign ministry official JP Singh held multiple meetings with Taliban representatives, including a notable meeting with acting Defense Minister Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob to plan for an Indo-Afghan strategic partnership in the Defence field.
