In what seems a significant strategic shift amid fast-changing ground reality in Afghanistan, India has apparently initiated direct secret contacts with some of the powerful top Taliban factions and leaders. New Delhi had so far desisted from making direct contacts with the Taliban leadership. Significantly, the outreach--that has been going on for some months now-- came at a time when foreign forces are withdrawing amid the rapidly deteriorating security situation in the country. 

India’s outreach, a report in the Hindustan Times said, is limited to select factions of the Taliban that considered as nationalists, including the Mullah Baradar faction, and it continues to be “exploratory in nature.” Senior Indian Intelligence officials and Baradar has exchanged messages, the report says.  There were conversations with other factions also despite a lack of trust on both sides.

The Ministry of External Affairs was yet to comment on the newspaper report. 

For years, India resisted contacts with the Taliban as it considered the group purely as a proxy force of Pakistan. Furthermore, Haqqanis, one of the most powerful factions of the group and considered very close to Pakistan spy agency ISI, had repeatedly attacked Indian targets in Afghanistan. 

The thinking that India had nothing to gain from the Taliban that purely acts on the instructions of Pakistan, its putative creator, went on for years in the Indian strategic circles.

However, it took years for India to come to the conclusion that the Taliban is not a monolithic group, and many factions exist within the group, with a varying degree of control of Pakistan over them. The faction led by Mullah Baradar, who is co-founder and also one of the three deputy leaders of the Taliban, is considered a nationalist faction, and not always toe the Pakistani lines. 

Importantly, in 2008, when Mullah Baradar and Abbas Stanakzai had opened secret talks with the Karzai government without the consent of Pakistan, they were arrested by Pakistani forces. Baradar remained in the Pakistani prison for 10 years and was only freed in 2018 upon the request of the US special representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad. 
 
 Confirming the shift in Indian approach and perception, an Indian official cited in the report said, “there has been a huge shift since then and there are some who think it might be better to have a line of communication with some Taliban leaders.” 

The report confirmed that Indian outreach didn’t include the Haqqani Network of the Taliban.

On the other hand, Pakistan has always opposed any kind of Indian involvement with Afghan actors whether it leaders and factions from the government or the Taliban. 

Experts also believe the Taliban would prefer to keep their engagement with India secret for some months now, and might not even acknowledge contacts. And, it is almost likely that the Taliban factions engaging with India would face pushback from Pakistan. 

(SAM)