Zabihullah

Volume 1 Issue 1 | Dec 2024

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Abstract

Afghanistan remained at the centre of India’s foreign policy owing to its unique geopolitical location. The Afghan jihad of the 1980s, leading to the Taliban’s takeover, impacted Afghanistan and India. The former has not recognised the Taliban but instead supported the Northern Alliance against them, which made Indo-Taliban relations shaky. With the collapse of the Taliban in the wake of 9/11, India, the regional ally of the USA, has engaged politically and economically in Afghanistan. The former fully sidelined the Taliban and supported the then-republican government. However, with the re-emergence of Taliban 2.0, India’s Afghan politics have changed. Indian officials visited Afghanistan and met the Taliban to address their core concerns and strategic interests. The Taliban called this visit a new chapter in their relations with India. Unlike their previous rule, no country, including India, recognises them. What are the strategic implications of Taliban 2.0 on India? To what extent are India and the Taliban diplomatically engaged? How does the Indian soft power policy help its image-building in Afghanistan? How does Pakistan factor into Taliban-India relations? Moreover, the way forward for future India-Taliban relations is one of the questions this study tends to answer, underpinned by primary (official sources) and secondary sources. The data is collected from both archival and online resources.