Trump to Taliban: How India’s foreign policy took a pragmatic turn

The rapidity with which the traditional foreign policy pursued by India is changing during the third tenure of the NDA government boggles the mind. US President Donald Trump is one of the prime catalysts for reshaping India’s strategy, his tariff war being responsible for driving the nation closer towards China. No doubt, India, since Independence, had been close to Russia, but during the first Trump and the subsequent Joe Biden era there had been a distinct ambivalence in that relationship even as New Delhi moved closer towards the US while joining alliances like Quad directed against Beijing. But, Trump’s tariff plans have compelled India to back away from that trend and engage in course correction, no better illustrated than by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s November visit to China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, and his bilateral meeting on the sidelines with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

As if to drive home the point that pragmatism rather than principles would be the future guiding beacon for India’s foreign policy, New Delhi has even obliquely given recognition to the ‘untouchable’ among today’s international community, the Taliban Afghan regime, which has been formally recognised only by Russia. Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi is currently in India for a week-long official visit; one being closely watched by Islamabad as well as Washington!

Obviously, the phrase ‘your enemy is my friend’ is operating in this context, India’s enmity towards Pakistan being at the root of the transformation in its Afghan policy. Muttaqi’s visit comes against a backdrop of worsening ties between India and Pakistan, and Pakistan and the Taliban government – in fact, while India engaged with hostilities with Pakistan in May this year, the Taliban is right now carrying out “retaliatory strikes” on Pakistani troops at the Afghan-Pak border. The pragmatism and realpolitik underlying the trip and the seriousness with which India is taking this attempt at reforging its ties with the Taliban are revealed in India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s assurance of “full commitment to the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of Afghanistan,” and Muttaqi calling India a “close friend” in a joint press conference! Jaishankar’s words would be music to the Taliban leadership’s ears, given that it will help the pariah regime to acquire a perception of legitimacy before the world, as also before the Afghan people.

Pragmatism, of course, always carries a price tag, given that the enforced exclusion of women journalists in Muttaqi’s press conference in India has earned the opprobrium of much of the free world. Also, considering the Taliban’s track record in the past of abjuring its allies if the situation warrants it, there is every possibility that India may not be replacing Pakistan in its good books for long!