‘Reasonable’ vibes from Taliban: Harsh Vardhan Shringla

The new rulers of Afghanistan are yet to publicly acknowledge the Doha engagement

The Taliban have not posted anything on social media about the meeting between their senior leader Sher Mohammed Stanekzai with Indian ambassador Deepak Mittal.: File picture

Special Correspondent   |   TT  |  New Delhi   |  05.09.21: The Taliban have “seemed” to indicate that they will be “reasonable” in addressing India’s concerns, foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said on Friday while referring to Tuesday’s meeting between India’s ambassador to Qatar and an official of the Afghan group in Doha.

The Taliban, the new rulers of Afghanistan, are yet to publicly acknowledge the Doha engagement. India, on the other hand, has made a rare acknowledgement of an official interaction with the insurgents it had never recognised earlier.

Unlike their meetings with representatives of other countries — both before and after the fall of Kabul — the Taliban have not posted anything on social media about the meeting between their senior leader Sher Mohammed Stanekzai with Indian ambassador Deepak Mittal.

Shringla was on Friday responding to questions from Indian reporters based in Washington as he wrapped up his three-day visit to the US. Afghanistan featured in his discussions with US secretary of state Antony Blinken and deputy secretary Wendy Sherman.

According to a PTI report from Washington, Shringla — when asked about Tuesday’s meeting in Doha — said: “Our engagement with them (the Taliban) has been limited. It’s not that we have (had) a robust conversation. But for whatever conversation we’ve had so far, they’ve been sort of. At least, the Taliban seem to indicate that they will be reasonable in the way they handle this.”

India had said in an official release after the Doha meeting that the conversation between the envoy and the Taliban official had focussed on the safety, security and early return of Indian nationals stranded in Afghanistan.

The travel of Afghan nationals, especially the minorities there, who wish to visit India also came up, according to the release.

Mittal iterated India’s concern that Afghanistan’s soil should not be used for anti-India activities and terrorism in any manner.

Shringla said that India, like the US, had adopted a wait-and-watch policy on Afghanistan, adding that the actions of Pakistan were also being monitored closely. “…We have to watch Pakistan’s actions with a fine tooth comb.”

Having provided safe havens to the Taliban for the past three decades, Pakistan — which sees Afghanistan as its strategic depth — is expected to exercise control over the new government in Kabul. ISI chief Lt Gen. Faiz Hameed flew to Kabul on Saturday along with a delegation.

Wait and watch, Shringla elaborated, “doesn’t mean you don’t do anything. It simply means that you have to… the situation is very fluid on the ground, you have to allow it to see how it evolves. You have to see whether the assurances that have been made publicly are actually maintained on the ground, and how things work out.”

Just how fluid the situation is on the ground is evident from the fact that contrary to expectations, the Taliban appear to have deferred government formation to next week. The government formation was earlier expected over this weekend but reports from Kabul suggest that infighting within the rag-tag group has forced the new rulers to defer the process to next week.

Fighting continues between the Taliban and the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan — under former Afghanistan vice-president Amrullah Saleh — in the Panjshir Valley with both sides claiming success on social media.