India must directly engage with Taliban

 Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2 Context: With the withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan in process, indian government has decided to ramp down its civilian presence in the war-torn country, bracing for a full-blown civil war. India has ‘temporarily’ closed its consulate in kandahar and evacuated its diplomats and indo-tibetan border police (ITBP) personnel stationed there. Indias developmentworks in afghanistan: India built vital roads, dams, electricity transmission lines and substations, schools and hospitals, etc. The 2011 india-afghanistan strategic partnership agreementrecommitted indian assistance to help rebuild afghanistan’s infrastructure and institutions, education and technical assistance for capacity-building in many areas, encourage investment in....Read More