Why are India and Pakistan active together in Afghanistan?

Posted on 11th Nov 2021 by rohit kumar

The stir among Asian countries regarding Afghanistan has increased once again.

 

Both India and Pakistan are meeting at an interval of one day on the latest situation in Afghanistan.

 

This meeting took place in India on Wednesday 10 November, in which representatives of Russia, Iran, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan attended.

 

After the meeting, a 12-point manifesto named 'Delhi Declaration on Afghanistan' was also released. All the countries involved in the meeting agreed that the land of Afghanistan will not be used for any kind of nutrition, training, planning, or financial aid to terrorism.

 

But China and Pakistan kept their distance from this meeting.

 

On the other hand, a meeting regarding Afghanistan in Pakistan will be held once a day on Thursday, in which along with Russia, representatives of America and China will participate.

 

China did not reach India to attend the meeting but is sending its representative to Pakistan's meeting. At the same time, Russia is the only country that will participate in both meetings.

 

Although the 'guest list' of the meetings of both countries may be different, the timing has increased the interest in these meetings.

 

Pakistan meeting agenda

 

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi was on a visit to Afghanistan last month. Then he invited the Foreign Minister of the Taliban to take part in the meeting to be held here.

 

The important thing here is that Pakistan has not recognized the Taliban government, but Taliban officials are working in the Afghanistan Embassy in Islamabad.

 

What is meant by 'guest list' and 'host list' of these two meetings?

 

Rakesh Sood, former Ambassador of India to Afghanistan, to this question, says, "Both these meetings point to how India's relationship with the Taliban and Pakistan's relationship with the Taliban. One other thing, That is evident from these two meetings is how India-Pakistan relations are. Pakistan refused to attend the meeting in India and parted ways with the Taliban by sending invitations to only three countries – China, Russia, and America. meeting."

 

This meeting is taking place in Pakistan at a time when the Imran Khan government has recently decided to hold talks with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). It is also believed that the Afghan Taliban has played an important role in this decision of the Imran government.

 

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan is an extremist organization operating in Pakistan. This is the same group that is blamed for the 2014 shooting at an army school in Peshawar, in which nearly 200 people were killed.

 

Thomas West, who is America's special envoy to Afghanistan, will attend this meeting from the US side.

 

On behalf of the Taliban government, Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaki will participate in this meeting. He is reaching Pakistan on Wednesday.

 

The spokesman of the Foreign Ministry of the Taliban has given this information by tweeting. According to the Taliban government, in addition to finance and trade matters, relations with the Taliban government, refugee and migrant issues, and issues related to the movement of common people will be discussed in the meeting in Pakistan.

 

On the agenda of the meeting of the two countries, Rakesh Sood says, "The agenda is the same - how to maintain stability in Afghanistan."

 

However, India says that after the Taliban comes to power, the situation regarding regional security will be discussed in the Delhi meeting. On this Rakesh Sood says, "Security and stability are both related to each other. If it is safe, then there will be stability, with instability, no country can be safe nor can it keep others safe."

 

On the other hand, Indrani Bagchi, senior foreign affairs journalist and diplomatic editor of the Times of India says, "The issue of Pakistan's meeting is about 'reconciliation' i.e. 'improving relations with the Taliban'.

 

The Taliban's interim government is accused of not being 'inclusive'.

 

what happened in India meeting

The Delhi meeting focused on regional security to deal with the challenges posed by the Taliban's occupation of Afghanistan, from terrorism and radicalization inside and outside the country, drug production, smuggling, and the potential use of discarded weapons by the US and its allies. All countries were considered.

 

Russia's representative Nikolai Petrushev said, "Such a multilateral meeting helps to understand the challenges of Afghanistan's development and discuss how to deal with it. This can help to work for the restoration of peace there for a long time." Will be able."

 

At the same time, Iran's representative once again targeted the Taliban government for not being 'inclusive. He said that whether it is the refugee problem or the problem of the migrants - the solution of all can be possible only when every faction is represented in the government.

 

This is the third time that such talks at the NSA level are being held. Earlier in 2018 and 2019, Iran had hosted such a meeting.

 

Pakistan had objected to India's inclusion in both those meetings and did not attend itself.

 

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval presided over the meeting being held in India. In his address, he once again reiterated the promise of humanitarian help to the people of Afghanistan.

 

Taliban not involved in India meeting

 

By the way, the discussion about Afghanistan in the Delhi meeting is related to the Taliban regime. But the invitation has not been sent to him in the meeting of India.

 

The Indian government says that no country invited for the meeting has recognized the Taliban government. Even before this, many meetings in Afghanistan have been held without the Taliban.

 

However, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid has expressed an optimistic stance on the ongoing meeting in India, saying that he "hopes that such meetings will help in building a better understanding of the Afghanistan issue".

 

Indrani Bagchi says, "India did not send an invitation to the Taliban because India did not want to include them in this meeting."

 

The important thing is also that after the return of Afghanistan to power, India has engaged with them on two occasions.

 

Earlier in Doha, the Indian ambassador had a meeting with the Taliban representative. After that, the Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also went to the talks in Moscow, the capital of Russia, where a meeting with Taliban representatives was organized.

 

When India has held talks with the Taliban at two different places, why refrain from them this time?

 

On this question, Indrani says, "India's relationship with Taliban is very different from Russia's relationship. Russia has maintained its relations with the Taliban very well in the last few years, only not recognizing them. Because of this. Russia had also sent an invitation to the Taliban in Moscow format.

 

"But India's history with the Taliban has not been the same as that of Russia. Everyone remembers the Kandahar hijacking. India's biggest concern is that 'Afghanistan should not become a stronghold of terrorism under the Taliban rule. At present, India's limited presence in Afghanistan that's the interest."

 

"Even with this concern, it would not be appropriate for India to hold talks with the Taliban at the negotiating table."

 

One more thing to note here is that India neither called Taliban nor any other person who was in power there in the past, with whom the Government of India had good relations in the past.

 

Indrani says, "This is a kind of 'political balancing act' from India's side. If India is not recognizing the Taliban, then it is not talking to any other side in the politics of Afghanistan. That is, India is not talking about the Taliban. If it is not with you, then it is not against them either.

 

No country in the world, including India, has yet recognized the Taliban government, but different countries of the world, including America, are negotiating with the Taliban government at different levels. Embassies of some countries are also running in Afghanistan.