Kabul may bolster India ties as Pak partnership nosedives

New Delhi: India is keeping a close watch on the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, following the Taliban's announcement that it will retaliate against Pakistan's cross-border airstrikes. Such a drastic move by Kabul may have a spillover effect in the region and Eurasia where India has wide-ranging stakes.

Sources told ET that New Delhi is closely monitoring Pakistan-Afghanistan ties as Kabul, irked with Islamabad, may seek to bolster relations with New Delhi.

India has always desired a favourable dispensation in Kabul that would disallow Pakistan from using Afghanistan's territory as sanctuaries for terrorist groups and as a launchpad for anti-India activities.


Over the past year, India has stepped up engagement with the Taliban, much to the discomfort of Pakistan, and has even allowed its representative to operate from the Afghan consulate in Mumbai.

Kabul has assured India that it will not allow its soil to be used for anti-India activities and has expressed interest in widening humanitarian and development partnership with New Delhi. The assurance was given when a senior MEA official met Taliban's acting defence minister Mohammad Yaqub Mujahid in Kabul in November. Mujahid is the son of Mullah Omar, who was Afghanistan's leader between 1996-2001.

Sources told ET that currently there is semblance of stability in Afghanistan under the current Taliban rule, even as women rights and education remain a cause for concern.