The Resurrection of Taliban & what it means for India

The resurrection of the Taliban after a period of 20 years is surely going to create ruckus in the perspectives of the whole world towards the US and its policies including a spike of doubts in many as whether the US is truly a super power or not. It is perhaps too early to determine the prospective effects of this takeover for India but it surely is a warning as to not let the guard down. Though India does not share a any portion of its border with Afghanistan (except for PoK) , India must definitely remember the fact that its enemy neighbor Pakistan  might go the distance and seize this opportunity to strike at us.

The Taliban even though mentioned that they were not interested in the matters of India (when asked about Kashmir issue), it must be understood from past experience that the Taliban are not people who can be trusted upon words or agreements. The Taliban in the past is known for breaking peace treaties or ceasefire treaties and it must be considered as a terror organization and there are no two ways about it. Looking back to history, it can be understood that Pakistan did have a deep rooted connection with the Taliban during the Afghan-Soviet war and still has. It could only be anytime when such a reunion may happen publicly and that is definitely not a good sign for India. Even though the Taliban was funded by the US for eliminating the communists of the soviet union, China is now seeming to bury the hatchet by extending a hand of peace and cooperation towards the Taliban. The Chinese government is at a brink of war against India and with the whole world in bad terms against China for the spread of covid, the Chinese are getting all the backup they need no matter with whom they decide to collude. The Taliban led Afghanistan is sure to collapse sooner or later due to a dead economy but with China's help, they might be able to revive that.

 One of the many reasons for the US to leave Afghanistan was the fact that the US were not benefitting from the westernization. In fact, no nations have decided to provide an aid or a hand of help towards the falling nation at this time of crisis. India did make donations for nation building to Afghanistan while the US were still there but as of now, the only concern is to evacuate the Indians from Afghanistan. Afghanistan was never a strong economy after the Taliban rule emerged in the first place. With the strict imposition of the Sharia law, professionals fled the country and there was no scope for developments or investments of any sort. This led Afghanistan to become a warzone and a dying country and now with the resurrection, things are only moving backwards another 200 years. However, no country has ever decided to hold Qatar accountable for any of the inhumane actions of the Taliban or Al-Qaeda even though on various occasions countries like Qatar and Saudi Arabia have been mediators for organizations such as Taliban. The answer to why such a level of hypocrisy is due to Qatar's and Saudi Arabia's spontaneously growing economy and the world's dependency on oil. This is where India should speed up its gears and take control of its oil dependency.

With the third highest oil consumption per day, India will create a paradigm shift of power from the oil supplying countries if it becomes absolutely self reliant. This will in turn boost the economy of the country as the foreign investments in the country would triple the times it is now making India the next big thing. This would open a space for the world nations to hold countries such as Qatar accountable for their actions as then, there would be no repercussions and even if they arise, they would have a new source for consuming energy and a new space for making investments. Many countries which have expressed their intention to leave China and are practically looking for alternatives to relocate their production base from China, would grab the Indian alternative if and when it is up. This economic strength would assure India the backing up and support it will need from the world political community, if a situation like Taliban is ever to rise here. With the Prime Minister recently pushing the country to be more self reliant, one maybe optimistic for such a change but again, the same are only words and the action is still far away.

Coming to India's internal politics, this takeover would definitely be a silver lining for the government to push forward the Citizenship Amendment Act. The persecution of minorities and its horrific images that has surfaced the internet has shaken the people and this will be capitalized by the government. The silence by the people of the Muslim community in India until the entire takeover has raised speculations in the minds of non-muslim netizens about the secular nature being taken for granted which will add only more fuel for the present government. Just as the second wave of covid has caused enough damage for the Modi led government due to its mismanagement, this will be a face savior for them as this can be milked enough for the centre to push forth its policies like the CAA and Uniform Civil Code as there could be even way less retaliations now than expected. The pro Hindutva people aren't alone this time unlike in the usual circumstances and this could also lead into a much dangerous situation that may arise in the future. The comparisons are made between the Palestine issue that took place few months ago and how the outcry is less for the Afghan issue and the staggering difference in the numbers are not to be overlooked upon. 

Hashtags on Instagram are way lesser in numbers.

Hypocrisy and double standards of people are to be called out no matter who or what may be the situation. The world doesn't need people who would speak only for their religion or when such an opportunity strikes as there are enough people doing that with guns and swords. Islamophobia is one such issue that has been raised countless times by countless people as something extremely dangerous but with comparisons like those that have been mentioned above, there are scopes for doubts as in who are actually promoting such a bigotry. Are the people who terrorize people in the name of Islam responsible, or are the preachers who remain silent when the fire is raging to be held responsible? The phobias in the name of religion will always continue as long as the ones who preach those religions remain silent when their fellow preachers are burning down the world. Instead of calling it as not religious, perhaps the people should focus on condemning the actions of these terrorists rather than taking it as an opportunity to defend the religion. The fact that India being a secular country still had taken its sweet time to send prayers to the Afghans, are things for which we might have to pay the price later on perhaps in the form of repressive laws that may arise. If India doesn't act now, perhaps the prospective effects might come to us sooner because we are not far away from them.

The views of the author are personal.

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