It is a tale of two Indian External Affairs Ministers under two different circumstances—Jaswant Singh in the winter of 1999 accompanying five dreaded terrorists to be handed over to the Taliban in return for the safe release of the hijacked Indian Airlines flight IC 814 at Kandahar airport and 25 years later another Indian foreign minister hosting his Afghan counterpart in the iconic Hyderabad House in Delhi for talks.
No external affairs minister would have liked to do the job that Jaswant Singh had to do then. But the circumstances demanded him to do that. It was a matter of life and death for 190 people, 179 passengers and 11 crew members. Terrorists were released and handed over to the Taliban, who that time ruled Afghanistan. Flight returned to India amidst celebrations. Precious lives were saved, barring one, who had been killed by terrorists while the plane was in their captivity.
Indian Airlines flight from Kathmandu to Delhi was hijacked by Kashmiri militants on December 24, 1999, seeking release of five dreaded terrorists, including Masood Azhar, who later masterminded the Mumbai terror attacks. The plane was forced to fly to Kandahar airport in Afghanistan where the supportive Taliban were in power that time. India was forced to release the five terrorists that time.
Twenty-five years later, Afghan foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, again from the Taliban regime, is in India having been accorded warm hospitality. He has held high-level talks with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar. The two countries have agreed to build up strong diplomatic relations with each other. India has decided to upgrade its “technical” mission in Kabul with appointment of a full-fledged ambassador. India had withdrawn its diplomatic staff from Kabul after the Taliban took over once again in the aftermath of the withdrawal of the American troops in August 2021.
Twenty-five years is a long period in politics and diplomacy. The Taliban may not have changed much as far as their puritanical implementation of Islamic/ Sharia laws is concerned, but they have evolved diplomatically over this long period. The current Taliban regime is not much different from the one that ruled in the aftermath of the Soviet exit. The current leadership has evolved from the earlier one. Some of those in power are the sons of the leaders who controlled the previous regime.
The earlier Taliban were radically extremists. So much so that when the US asked the Taliban regime headed by Mullah Omar, also known as one-eyed Mullah, as he was blind in one eye, to hand over Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind of the 9/11 terror attacks, the regime refused. This led to complete devastation of Afghanistan. Pakistan, which was the creator of the Taliban as they were trained in Pakistani Islamic seminaries, played a crucial role in the US attack and eventual defeat of Taliban by providing logistic support to the US. Even the US helped and supported the Taliban that time to mushroom, against the Soviet forces in Afghanistan.
Despite enjoying a close relationship with the Taliban, the then Pakistani military dictator, Gen Pervez Musharaf was left with no choice after the then US President George Bush made it categorically clear to him that “you are with us or against us”. Musharaf complied meekly. Even that did not win him full American support. But at least he saved Pakistan from the US getting hostile towards it.
This “brutal betrayal” was not lost on the Taliban that Pakistan is not a reliable friend or ally. Much against the widespread perception that the Taliban were friendly towards Pakistan, the feeling of betrayal was too strong to be forgotten. When the US retreated from Afghanistan in 2021, Pakistan took it for granted that the Taliban regime would be friendly with it. But that was not to be. Taliban, immediately after taking over, took an independent diplomatic line, completely independent of their eastern neighbour.
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The Taliban were hostile towards India only because of Pakistan. They mistakenly took Pakistan to be their friend, eventually realising, to their utter shock, that Pakistan had its own interests to watch while being friendly towards them (the Taliban). When the real moment to stand by them, or at least remain neutral came, Pakistan backed out and aligned with the US.
After a long fight of 20 years, the Taliban retook the reigns of Afghanistan. While they have imposed strict Sharia laws in Afghanistan, which are harsh towards women and minorities, they have been able to provide political stability in the war-ravaged country. During the last four years of their rule, while being internationally isolated, they have ensured that their country is not used as a nursery or shelter by any organisation against any other country. They have even discouraged, may be not completely stopped, the illegal cultivation of poppy as well.
The moment of reckoning seems to have come for the Taliban. In their previous avatar they were known to have shielded and sheltered the Islamic militants like the Al Qaeda and its leader Osama bin Laden, the ISIS and also Kashmiri militants, a number of whom were trained there before they infiltrated into Kashmir.
In a shocking turn of events, after the US action in Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden was found to have taken shelter in Pakistan, where he was traced by the US forces and eventually killed in Abbottabad near a military cantonment on May 1, 2011 during Operation Neptune. It was obvious that the Pakistani military, which had provided him protection, eventually “sold him off” to the US, the way they sold off the Taliban 10 years ago.
The current Taliban regime in Afghanistan clearly appears to have learnt contemporary history so well that they have realised that Pakistan is not a reliable partner, like they seem to have realised that maintaining peace is the first requisite for a nation’s survival. Their worldview is definitely puritanical, as it is inspired by ultra-conservative view of Islam. At the same time, they are emitting the right signals towards other countries that they want peace at all costs.
Interestingly, some oil rich Islamic countries are as ultra-orthodox and puritanical in their interpretation and execution of the Sharia laws as the Taliban. Since they have huge petro-dollars, which allow them to afford million-dollar gifts to “powers that matter”, which obviously the Taliban can’t afford, their “sins” are easily overlooked, while the Taliban are demonised.
Taliban continue to remain globally isolated. Only Russia has officially recognised the Taliban government. Even their “supposed longtime friend” Pakistan has not recognised them. India, by extending a helping hand to their regime at this stage, has served a diplomatic ace. Afghans, the Talibans in particular, seeing India, and not Pakistan, as their friend, indeed is a phenomenal development.
Besides, this conveys multiple signals globally and domestically as well. The message of Muttaqi’s specially organised visit to the Islamic seminary of Deoband is not lost on anyone either.
By Vimal Sumbly
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