WHAT is being seen as a signal to India, a member of the Taliban leadership in Qatar has said that India is “very important to this subcontinent” and that his group wants to continue with the “cultural” , Afghanistan’s “economic”, “political” and “trade ties” with India “as in the past”.
The opening was made by Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, deputy director of the Taliban’s Doha office, in a carefully scripted statement he read to Pashto in a 46-minute video message posted Saturday on the group’s social media platforms and Afghanistan’s Milli television.
The signal is significant as Pakistan maintains its levers against the Taliban, and Islamabad and Rawalpindi have always seen India’s ties with Afghanistan as a negative influence. It is also the first categorical statement addressed to India by a senior Taliban leader since they took power in Kabul on 15 August.
The Indian Express reported on Sunday that the UN Security Council, with India as president in August, had withdrawn a reference to the Taliban from a paragraph of its statement calling on Afghan groups not to support terrorists “operating in the territory of any other country”.
Stanekzai, by the way, was at the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun in the 1980s as part of Afghan Army cadet training. In 1996, he had made a similar opening in India after the first takeover of Kabul by the Taliban when he was deputy foreign minister of an interim regime.
This time, his statements come at a time when India has evacuated its entire Indian diplomatic contingent from the embassy in Kabul.
Track actions on the ground
This is the first Taliban approach to India since the group took power two weeks ago. However, a cautious Delhi will wait and observe demonstrable behavior on the ground in Afghanistan that demonstrates the good faith of the Taliban, including the treatment they have of Afghans who have worked with India.
“India is very important for this subcontinent. We want to continue our cultural, economic and trade ties with India as in the past, ”he said.
“We give due importance to our political, economic and trade ties with India and we want these ties to continue. We are looking forward to working with India in this regard,” he said.
On Taliban plans to trade in the region, Stanekzai said, “Trade with India through Pakistan is very important to us. With India, trade through air corridors will also remain open.”
This is again an important statement from India’s point of view as Pakistan has always blocked transit, trade and land access between India and Afghanistan.
In statements on Afghanistan’s relations with Turkmenistan, Stanekzai listed the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project and said the Taliban would work to resolve the problems that keep the company once a government.
Stanekzai also referred to the port of Chabahar developed by India while talking about relations with Iran and stressed its importance for trade.
Over the past two weeks, Taliban spokesmen Suhail Shaheen and Zabiullah Mujahid have also spoken about the group’s views on relations with India.
South Block, which closely follows all these statements, has not yet responded to these messages. But officials have noted that the Taliban had cooperated for the safe passage of Indian and Afghan diplomats and nationals, who were evacuated from Kabul.