Reaching out to the ‘undesirables’

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Context:

Shedding its past hesitations, the Government of India has started an open, formal engagement with the Taliban who, by all accounts, will form the next government in Afghanistan.

Background

• Until the recent India-Taliban meeting in Doha, India’s engagement with the Taliban was through secret channels, open but ‘unofficial’.
  • New Delhi sent two retired diplomats to a meeting in Moscow in which the Taliban were present), 
  • It is quiet and unpublicised (an undeclared meeting of Ministry of External Affairs officials with the Taliban in Doha in June this year). 
• Engagement with the Taliban is useful in both securing India’s interests in Afghanistan (to the extent possible) and to potentially moderate Taliban’s internal and external behaviour (again, to the extent possible).

India’s Options in Afghanistan

• Given that a Taliban-led government is a foregone conclusion now, the international community must only accord such recognition as part of a negotiated process, a process aimed at moderating Kabul’s new rulers. 
• UN Security Council Resolution 2593, adopted at a meeting chaired by India, emphasising that Afghan soil should not be used for terror activity is a good beginning internationally. 
• The international community should eventually recognise a Taliban-led government in return for guarantees that the latter will abide by norms governing terrorism, human rights, among others.

Various Aspects of engaging with the Taliban

• Geopolitics and morality: Moral questions governing the behaviour of states cannot be divorced from the geopolitical power and location of those states.
  • While all states use moral arguments in the pursuit of their respective national interests, it is the moral logic used by the powerful states or coalitions that tend to win over the weaker ones, thereby becoming the standards of behaviour. 
  • Arguments stemming from moral universalism should, therefore, be challenged not only because they are patronising, but also because crude national interests often masquerade as moral universalism. 
  • Moral universalism may be desirable and even useful in certain contexts and for certain purposes, but it must be viewed with a critical eye. 
  • At the same time, one must also be careful not to fall victim to extreme arguments from moral relativism. Indeed, a healthy conversation between universalism and relativism could produce politically useful moral arguments.
• Range of Undesirables: The point of diplomacy, after all, is also to engage with the undesirables to try and change their positions. 
  • As a matter of fact, entities, individuals and states do change as a result of sustained negotiations. 
  • Whether or not legitimacy and recognition will temper an outfit with a violent past like the Taliban is indeed a challenging question. But one will have to make a call based on available alternatives and potential outcomes; not based on quixotic notions of moral universalism.
• A difficult art: There is a larger argument for reaching out to undesirable/rogue elements — to build peace and resolve conflicts. 
  • Notwithstanding what they say, democratic governments have routinely negotiated with terrorists, secretly or openly. 
  • Consider examples from the British government’s secret talks with the Irish Republican Army (IRA) while the IRA was still carrying out attacks against the U.K., to the Spanish government’s talks with the Basque Homeland and Freedom even after the latter’s violence killing civilians, to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam-Sri Lankan government negotiations in the 2000s. 
  • Talking to the undesirables is a time-tested phenomenon. More importantly, peace-building is not always a morally black-and-white business. Often enough, the process of conflict resolution can be morally challenging, politically complicated and involves difficult choices.

Impact on India

• Talking to the Taliban would allow India to seek security guarantees from the insurgents in return for continued development assistance or other pledges as well as explore the possibility of the Taliban’s autonomy from Pakistan.
• While talking to the Taliban to protect its interests, India should also enhance aid to Afghanistan’s legitimate government and security forces and work with other regional powers for long-term stability in the country.
• Regional solution: There is a convergence of interests between India and three key regional players — China, Russia and Iran — in seeing a political settlement in Afghanistan. Thus, there is a need for cooperation from like-minded countries on this front.
• Short Term and Long Term Goal: India’s immediate goal should be the safety and security of its personnel and investments.

The Hindu Link:

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/reaching-out-to-the-undesirables/article36310751.ece

Question: Engaging with Taliban after US exit will require a multipronged approach by India. Comment.