Unrest in Af-Pak region poses greater risk to India and the world
Post Date – 12:30 AM, Tuesday – 12/13/22
Unrest in Af-Pak region poses greater risk to India and the world
The resurgence of terrorism in Afghanistan and Pakistan is of serious concern in the region, especially as India has been a victim of cross-border terrorism for decades. Daesh’s regional affiliate has claimed responsibility for several high-profile attacks in Kabul in recent months. This is despite the Taliban’s pledge shortly after taking control of the crisis-torn country last year not to allow the terrorist group to operate on its soil. Organized crime and terrorist groups are “on the rise again” in Afghanistan, the United Nations said in a report last month. India has no diplomatic ties with Afghanistan and closed its embassy in Kabul last August after U.S.-led forces withdrew the country and the Taliban took it over. After the former Taliban regime was toppled in a US-led invasion in 2001, New Delhi spent billions of dollars on infrastructure and humanitarian aid in the country. No wonder the situation in Afghanistan was high on the agenda of the first Indo-Central Asia meeting of the recent National Security Advisers (NSA) meeting hosted by New Delhi. A joint statement following talks between the state security services of India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan stressed that Afghan territory should not be used to harbor, train, plan or finance any terrorist act. The deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan is also worrying. Terrorist groups active there pose a long-term challenge to India and the region.
Contrary to earlier expectations of the Taliban’s returning strategic advantage in the neighboring country, Pakistan is actually feeling the pinch as terrorist attacks against its assets increase. The Pakistani Taliban Movement (TTP) continued to attack Pakistani targets from bases across the Durand Line. Indeed, last month, the TTP unilaterally ended an uneasy ceasefire with Islamabad and carried out suicide attacks in Balochistan. Moreover, the Pakistani embassy in Kabul was attacked on December 2, for which ISIS claimed responsibility this time. Earlier, military chiefs in Rawalpindi had hoped to expand their strategic footprint in the region following the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. However, the situation on the ground quickly changed. A volatile Af-Pak region poses a greater risk to India and the world at large. The use of Afghan territory by Pakistan-based terrorist groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba has had serious implications for India, which has invested around $3 billion in more than 500 projects in Afghan provinces. these projects. India is providing free aid to the people of Afghanistan in the form of food, medicine and Covid-19 vaccine. New Delhi cannot afford to squander the goodwill built up over the past two decades.
