India Takes Taliban On Its Side, Indian Delegation Visited Kabul On Monday

30th April 2025 at 6:08 PM

1 minute read

India is taking the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan on its side as it moves to act against Pakistan over the Pahalgam massacre. India has held talks with Kabul, even as Pakistan faces a Taliban-linked insurgency in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. — India is taking the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan on its side as it moves to act against Pakistan over the Pahalgam massacre. India has held talks with Kabul.

New Delhi: India is taking the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan on its side as it moves to act against Pakistan over the Pahalgam massacre. India has held talks with Kabul, even as Pakistan faces a Taliban-linked insurgency in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. This comes even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave “complete operational freedom” to the Indian armed forces on their response to Pakistan.

This is quite a diplomatic coup for New Delhi, which snapped formal ties with Kabul after the Taliban takeover in August 2021. Pakistan, which hosted and sponsored the rebels, seems to have lost out. An Indian delegation visited Kabul on Monday, where it met the Taliban’s top leadership and discussed “recent regional developments”, pushing Pakistan further into the corner.

With Islamabad rushing its officials to world capitals, tucking terrorists into bunkers, pleading for neutral probes, shifting air defence to the border, and unleashing relentless cross-border fire, Pakistan has turned panicistan. Kabul’s overtures to New Delhi would add to Islamabad’s jitters.

However, India’s Kabul diplomacy is a smart tactical move. One has to remember, Pakistan cultivated the Taliban for decades in its ambition for “strategic depth”. Then ISI chief, Lt Gen Faiz Hameed, rushed to Kabul to celebrate soon after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. The equations have changed greatly.

PM Narendra Modi, who has vowed to “identify, track, and punish” those responsible for the terror attack, on April 29 gave the Indian armed forces “complete operational freedom” to decide the mode, targets, and timing of a response. PM Modi’s “free-hand” to the armed forces came in as Pakistan Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said that it had “credible intelligence” about India’s military action plans.

Tarar on Wednesday claimed that India was planning military action on Pakistan “in the next 24–36 hours” on the basis of “baseless and concocted allegations” of Islamabad’s involvement in the terror attack in Pahalgam. Amid the charged atmosphere, India’s diplomatic outreach to Afghanistan can be considered a masterstroke.