“Taliban Wants to Maintain Friendly Ties with India;” Stanekzai

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Aug 29: Amidst reports of another blast in the Afghanistan capital city of Kabul on Sunday, a senior Taliban leader has trained his focus on India expressing desire to maintain friendly ties with the country as it was so far.

While no further details of the blast was immediately available, for the first time in a direct reference to India by any member of the Taliban top hierarchy, Sher Mohammed Abbas Stanekzai has said the group wanted to continue Afghanistan’s political, economic and cultural ties with India.

In a nearly 45-minute video posted on the Taliban’s social media platforms on Saturday, Stanekzai spoke extensively in Pashto on the end of the war in Afghanistan and the Taliban’s plans for forming an Islamic administration based on Shariah. He also spoke about the Taliban’s views on relations with key countries in the region, including India, Pakistan, China and Russia.

It was the first time a member of the Taliban’s top hierarchy has spoken on the issue since the takeover of Kabul on August 15. Since the Taliban assumed power in Kabul, the group’s spokesmen Suhail Shaheen and Zabiullah Mujahid have spoken to the Pakistani media about the group’s views on relations with India, but Stanekzai, though is still not clear if he will be a part of the Afghanistan government-in the making, is the first senior leader of Taliban to make a statement on relations with other countries.

“India is very important for this subcontinent. We want to continue our cultural, economic and trade ties with India like in the past,” Stanekzai said. “Trade with India through Pakistan is very important for us. With India, trade through air corridors will also remain open,” he said, outlining the Taliban’s plans for trade in the region.

However, he didn’t say whether trade via India should be two-way. Pakistan has allowed Afghan traders to ship their goods to India through its territory but has never permitted Indian goods to be transported via Pakistani soil to Afghanistan.

“We give due importance to our political, economic and trade ties with India and we want these ties to continue. We are looking forward to working with India in this regard,” Stanekzai added.

While speaking about Afghanistan’s relations with Turkmenistan, Stanekzai mentioned the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project and said the Taliban would work to address the problems holding up the venture once a government is formed.

Stanekzai also referred to the Chabahar port developed by India while speaking about relations with Iran and highlighted its importance for trade. He also spoke about relations with China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Russia. He thanked Pakistan for hosting millions of Afghan refugees and said Afghanistan wants to have brotherly relations with Pakistan.

Earlier, Stanekzai had informally reached out to the Indian side after the Taliban took over Afghanistan and made a surprise request for New Delhi to retain its diplomatic presence in Kabul. He had also referred to reports that fighters from Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) were in Kabul and deployed at check posts on routes to the airport, and contended that all check posts, including those at the airport, were firmly in the hands of the Taliban.

However, the Indian side concluded Stanekzai’s message couldn’t be taken at face value and went ahead with plans to pull out nearly 200 diplomats, officials and security personnel, including the ambassador, from Kabul. There was no response from Indian officials to Stanekzai’s remarks.

Stanekzai, who is seen as the number two in the Taliban’s negotiating team and third overall among leaders based in Qatar, trained for several years at the Indian Military Academy (IMA) in Dehradun in the early 1980s.

Meanwhile, the Taliban has blamed the deposed president Ashraf Ghani for the chaos that ensued after August 15 and claimed that Ghani abandoned his government all of a sudden.

Suhail Shaheen has Ghani made a mistake by abandoning the government all of a sudden. He had told the media that on August 15, when the Taliban were ‘looking forward to’ a peaceful transfer of power and the fighters were waiting outside the gate of Kabul, Ashraf Ghani suddenly fled. “He made a mistake of abandoning the government…This is what resulted in the sudden vacuum, plundering and shooting,” the Taliban spokesperson said.

On reports of Ashraf Ghani fleeing with a huge amount of cash, Suhail Shaheen said if he has taken anything that does not belong to him, he must return that to Afghanistan, but pursuing that is not the priority of the Taliban as the group was now focussing on setting up the new government.

Ashraf Ghani, on the other hand, refuted reports of both fleeing the country and fleeing with money. From the UAE, he gave a message saying that he was forced to leave the country to avoid bloodshed. He did not even have the time to change his slippers, he said, adding that there was no question of taking ‘tonnes of money.’

On further relationship with the UAE which has welcomed Ghani and his family, the Taliban spokesperson said Ghani had close ties with the UAE. But that did not mean that the UAE will not have ties with the Taliban. “We have our office in Qatar. We have ties with the UAE. Giving shelter to Ashraf Ghani reflects their policy. It does not mean they do not have a relation with us,” the spokesperson said.