Perturbed over reports about Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s clandestine engagement with Taliban, Indian foreign minister Salman Khurshid will visit the country next week for a meeting with him.
While the government in India is yet to react officially to such reports, it is learnt that the Indian external affairs ministry has taken note of the confirmation of these by Kabul and its remark that “the last two months have been very positive”.
The Afghan government did not take the US into confidence before reaching out to the Taliban on its own and it is likely to further antagonise the Americans and create worries in New Delhi.
Indian media said Khurshid will also take stock of the progress made in key Indian infrastructure projects like parliament building, Salma dam and national agricultural university.
As the rift between Karzai and the US grows further, jeopardising their proposed bilateral security agreement essential for a residual presence of US forces in the country after the drawdown, India has been forced to do a tough balancing act.
India has shown understanding of Karzai’s position in not signing the agreement even though it doesn’t want US troops to withdraw completely and has refrained from putting any pressure on the president. The Afghan Taliban have felt emboldened enough to respond favourably to Karzai’s overtures probably also because they believe Karzai has shown spunk in standing up to the US. Sources here admitted things could get complicated further and that Khurshid will take up the issue in his meeting with the Afghan president.
Karzai has been insisting on more military aid from India, including both lethal and non-lethal equipment. India maintains that the demand is being considered taking into account various factors including “two major issues, our ability to supply based on our surpluses and licensing from other countries”.
