Washington: United States along with other
European countries are ignoring India's role in Afghanistan in
their effort to appease Pakistan, a prominent American foreign
policy magazine has said.
Noting that from New Delhi's perspective, "Af-Pak"
debate was all about the "Pak", the prestigious 'Foreign
Policy' in its latest issue said that in the recently held
London conference on Afghanistan, India was the lone voice of
dissent.
It was the only country which argued that there can
be no distinction between a good and a bad Taliban, wrote
Kapil Komireddi, in an article titled "Indian Motion"
published in Foreign Policy.
"As representatives from more than 60 countries
convened at the historic Lancaster House, New Delhi's
representative to the summit, External Affairs Minister S M
Krishna, emphasised to his British counterpart that it would
be a monumental folly, at this juncture, to make a distinction
"between a good Taliban and a bad Taliban" or to legitimise
the former through reaching out," it said.
From India's perspective, he said, because the Taliban
was originally an extension of Pakistan's intelligence agency
and because it has been used by Islamabad to mount attacks
against India, there can be no "good Taliban"
Besides, the wild popularity of Indian cinema and TV
shows in Afghanistan means that India enjoys a soft-power edge
over every other country currently engaged there.
Unsurprisingly, in the most recent opinion poll, India
emerged with the highest favorability rating of any country
involved in Afghanistan: 74 per cent, the article said.
"Yet in the endless debates focusing on Afghanistan,
India's role in the region had usually been ignored by United
States and Europe - often deliberately, as New Delhi was quick
to point out, in order to appease Pakistan," Komireddi argued.
"Washington was keenly aware of the benefits that New
Delhi brings to Afghanistan. But so far it has been wary of
openly embracing India as a partner," he said.
India, the only stable secular democracy in the region
he noted, was being actively prevented from helping in
Afghanistan in order to appease the Pakistani regime, lest it
re-enact the carnage that was visited upon Mumbai in 2008 and
the Indian Embassy in Kabul in 2008 and 2009.
"Which raises the question: Is the US objective in
Afghanistan to oust the Taliban, or is it to secure the
country for Pakistan? To New Delhi, the answer looks
increasingly like the latter," the author said.
PTI