Taliban regime appealed to welcome Indian investment in Afghanistan -

New Delhi: India should complete the incomplete projects left in Afghanistan. India’s investment in Afghanistan would be welcomed. The Taliban regime said it would protect India’s investment in Afghanistan’s development. For the past few days, the Taliban has continuously sent such messages to India. India seems to respond to this as well. At a time when the Taliban’s relations with Pakistan have been strained, this appeal by the Taliban regime to India has gained great strategic importance.

Suhail Shaheen, the spokesperson of the Taliban regime, explained India’s position in an interview given to the Indian media. Shaheen urged India to complete its incomplete civil projects in Afghanistan. Moreover, Shaheen has said that India should invest in building the city of New Kabul, and their regime would guarantee the security of this investment. While this appeal was being made by Shaheen, the Taliban’s Minister of Urban Development and Housing, Hamdullah Nomani, reportedly held talks with Bharat Kumar, the head of India’s technical team in Afghanistan. India invested about three billion dollars in Afghanistan in the last two decades.

India executed public interest projects in the country, from infrastructure facilities to constructing a Parliament building for the Afghans. About 433 projects of India for the development of people were ongoing in 34 provinces of Afghanistan. But India had to abandon these projects halfway due to security concerns after the Taliban took control of the country last year. Taliban had appealed that India should complete these projects even at that time. However, India did not respond to that.

However, the Taliban have consistently called on India to complete these projects for the past few weeks. Also, the Taliban has conveyed that they would welcome India’s investment. The Taliban regime cited the interests of the Afghan people in India for that. The Indian government, which initially viewed the Taliban with suspicion, has now started moves to respond to it. During the outbreak of Corona, India provided Corona vaccines and medicines for the Afghan people. Simultaneously, India had decided to supply about 50 thousand metric tons of wheat to the Afghan people who were facing severe food shortages.

The Taliban regime welcomed this substantial cooperation from India. At the same time, the Taliban regime had also assured that the Taliban would not be hostile to India on Pakistan’s warning and would not let Afghanistan use its land for terrorist activities against India and other countries. Besides, the Taliban also assured the security of the Hindu and Sikh communities in Afghanistan.

India hopes that the Taliban regime should not shelter anti-India terrorist organisations in Afghanistan and should ensure the security of minorities. India has asked the Taliban to establish an inclusive government with women’s right to education, work and the participation of all social groups in power. Although the Taliban did not accept all of the demands, they said they wanted a modern Afghanistan. This seems to have mellowed India’s earlier stance towards the Taliban regime.

Pakistan has started to look suspiciously at the cooperation established between India and the Taliban regime. The Pakistani media has been complaining that the Taliban launched attacks on its army stationed along the Durand Line, i.e., its border with Afghanistan, claiming that India was behind this. Pakistani analysts have also alleged that the Taliban regime has no longer been pro-Pakistan; rather, India has been influencing this regime more. Against this backdrop, the Taliban regime’s appeal to India has assumed great strategic importance.