HVK Archives: India's strange silence on Afghanistan baffling
India's strange silence on Afghanistan baffling - The Times of India
Seema Guha
()
8 October 1996
Title : India's strange silence on the recent events
in Afghanistan is baffling
Author : Seema Guha
Publication : The Times of India
Date : October 8, 1996
India has once again been caught on the wrong foot in
Afghanistan. The fast-paced development in the Afghanis-
tan capital, which led to the capture of Kabul and the
installation of an interim government by the Taliban
recently, apparently came as a total surprise to India.
This, despite India, Indonesia, Turkey and Iran being the
only countries to have and missions functioning out of
Kabul. The Indian embassy was closed on the day the
Taliban forces marched into Kabul.
India has been strangely silent about events literally in
its backyard. The government has nothing to say about the
brutal killing of former communist president Najibullah,
once feted and hosted by New Delhi. South Block's silence
has surprised foreign diplomats in the capital. "A
simple regret would have been.sufficient," a Western
diplomat said. "India's silence sends out wrong signals
to its friends all over the world. It shows up New
Delhi's professed friendship and the high moral tone it
often adopts as just a tall claim," a 'West Asian diplo-
mat said.
India's omission is glaring considering that even the
United States and Pakistan, by no means friends of the
soviet-backed late president, regretted his killing.
New Delhi is caught in a bind over the Taliban. India
believes that the Taliban, a little-known hardline stud-
ents group of radical Islamic students educated in Pakis-
tan's religious schools, have been armed and trained by
Islamabad. The consolidation of an unfriendly government
in Kabul with close ties with Pakistan is the nightmare
of Indian policy planners.
New Delhi's ties with Afghanistan go back a long way.
Down the ages, invaders from Central Asia have come into
India through Afghanistan. The British saw Afghanistan
as a buffer between India and Central Asia.
Afghanistan's importance became more pronounced after
independence and the creation of Pakistan. India has
maintained close cultural, economic and people-to-people
ties with Afghanistan. Since the days of Zahir Shah, New
Delhi has managed to keep its links with Kabul intact.
The one aberration was Indira Gandhi's support for the
Soviet occupation in the late 1970s, which was opposed by
the fiercely nationalistic Afghans. Though publicly
supporting Moscow, India was uneasy about the presence of
Soviet troops in the country.
Despite India and Pakistan and U.S.-backed Mujahideen
factions being on opposite sides of the Cold War divide-
New Delhi finally managed to have cordial relations with
the Burhanuddin Rabbani government in Kabul till the last
fortnight.
Indian diplomats fear that an unfriendly government in
both Kabul and Islamabad could jeopardise India's inter-
est in the region. A consolidation of the Taliban base in
Kabul over a period of time could have repercussions In
Kashmir. The possibility of Pakistan using the Taliban
to stir up trouble in Kashmir is a danger South Block and
the military establishment in India foresee. New Delhi is
also worried about the effect of a fundamentalist Taliban
so close to its borders.
But some Indian officials say that it is too early to
gauge the Taliban's current cozy ties with Pakistan. It
is difficult to believe that Islamabad can remote-control
the regime in Kabul. The Afghans have an "ethno-
nationalistic" identity which does not take kindly to
outside domination. In fact, despite three Afghan wars
the British were unable to bring the country completely
under control. Also very little is known about the equa-
tions within the Taliban. It may not be as homogeneous
and monolithic as it now appears.
The Pathans i Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province are
of the same stock as the Pakhtoons, from where the Tali-
ban draws its strength. Islamabad realises the dangers of
an ethnic conflagration in Afghanistan which may spill
over across the border.
India is not the only country anxious about developments
in Afghanistan. Russia, Iran and the newly independent
Central Asian republics are all worried about the growth
of fundamentalist fervour in the region.
Despite differences in perception, Russia, the United
States, Iran, India and Pakistan agree on one point:
stability In Afghanistan is essential for security in the
region.
Russia is worried that a hostile government in Afghanis-
tan could export fundamentalism to the Muslim population
of Central Asia. Already grappling with growing ethic
divisions in the former Soviet areas, Moscow fears that
the present domination of the Pakhtoon Taliban can es-
calate into a full-scale conflict between ethic Tajiks,
Pakhtoons, Uzbeks and Hazares in Afghanistan. Ailing
President Boris Yeltsin has sent Prime Minister Victor
Chernomyrdin to Almaty for a meeting with CIS leaders to
discuss developments in Afghanistan.
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