Earlier this week we told you about India and the Taliban how India was backing the Taliban against Pakistan. Pakistan carried out an attack on Afghan soil. India supported the taliban's version of events. That was part one of this developing story. Part two took place yesterday in Dubai when India, the Taliban held high levelvel talks, india's Foreign Secretary Vikram Misery and afghanistan's acting Foreign Minister Airman Muakki they met in Dubai. Now Muakki is a member of the Taliban regime. Since India does not recognize the regime he's seen as the acting foreign minister. That part has not changed but the high level talks in indicate a shift, a reset between New Delhi and Kaul. It shows that India is willing to engage with the Taliban at the highest levels.
Let's take a closer look at this. Both diplomats flew down to the BA for the sitdown during the talks. India's focus was on the Avanan people. India has been providing humanitarian assistance to them for years now and it has agreed to extend this assistance. New Delhi will also support two key areas, afghanistan's health sector and the rehabilitation of Afghan refugees. This is the need of the hour. A number of Afghans live in other countries and neighboring nations like Pakistan and Iran, both of which have been cracking down on these Afghans. Pakistan is particularly harsh. It has been expelling Afghans in large numbers and piling new burdens on the ones who remain. Millions of these refugees have been forced to go back. The Taliban are looking to rehabilitate them to give them a place to live and it wants India to help. New Delhi agreed to do this to keep supporting the ordinary people of Afghanistan. But India was not just meeting with the Taliban to act as some guardian angel.
This is geopolitics. India has interests too and India wants to protect them. One area of concern is security. Afghanistan has been used to support terrorist attacks against India. This has happened in the past when the Taliban were close to Pakistan. India wants to make sure that this never happens again and the Taliban understand New delhi's concerns. They reassured Foreign Secretary mystery, they said. And I'm quoting. Afghanistan does not pose a threat to any nation. It's a bit rich coming from the Taliban, but this is what they told India. Let's hope that this proves true. India's next concern was economics. New Delhi has poured a lot of money into Afghanistan over the years, about three billion dollars by some estimates. India has funded a number of infrastructure development projects. The Taliban want this to continue. India does not want all that money to go to waste, so it is trying to secure these investments and not just in Afghanistan, in neighboring Iran as well, india is building the Chabahar port in iran's Beuchistan region. This will allow India to bypass Pakistan and access Iran. Afghanistan and all the Central Asian countries.
India has spent millions on Chabaja as well, so it wants to maximize the port's potential. That's where the Taliban talks come into play again. India needs to engage with them so that trade can flow all the way north and the Taliban have agreed to this too. Trade through the port will be promoted. This will help with india's humanitarian aid deliveries as well. So it works out well for both sides. That was everything that they agreed on. The Taliban, of course, wants more, more engagements, more trade and more people-to-pe contacts. They want an easier visa regime for Afghan entrepreneurs, medical patients and students. India has agreed to look into this too. All this shows that India has some sway over the Taliban regime. It is forging a working relationship over time. This should be used to help the Afghan people further, especially the Afghan women. Because no matter the geopolitics. India cannot simply look away and ignore their plight. It must use whatever leverage it has to speak up for them.
From breaking news to the day's biggest controversies.

Shedding Light on the world's top headlines. Detailed analysis on the stories That Matter the Most to You Catch It All on Spotlight at 6 PM India Time and 1200 and 30 GMT only on First Post.