India and the Taliban: A Strategic Reset In South Asia’s Geopolitical Scenario

Pakistan is geographically narrow. This geography gives rise to insecurity. And this insecurity, in the early 1990s, gave birth, albeit in part, to a radical ‘student’ militia which we know today as the Taliban.

- TDG NETWORK

There were other factors at play; the 1989 withdrawal of the Soviet forces across the Amu river, the CIA disavowing Pakistan after running covert operations in Afghanistan with ISI’s help for over a decade and Pakistan's geographical insecurity, which found resonance in the mythic idea of strategic depth. A friendly regime in Kabul would ensure peace along the contested Durand Line. A secure western flank, a veritable backyard which could swallow entire infantry divisions, would give Pakistan the strategic space to engage with India on its own terms.

India was beset with its own problems; shaky successive coalition governments in New Delhi, bloodshed in Operation Pawan and terrorism in Punjab. In 1989, Kashmir blew up in our faces.

In 1992, the Soviet backed government in Kabul fell. On 27th September 1996, former President Najibullah was hanged by the Taliban. Afghanistan saw the strict implementation of the Islamic Sharia code under Mullah Omar's men. In the years leading to 9/11, the Taliban provided safe haven to Osama bin Laden and his group, al-Qaeda. When the planes crashed into the World Trade Centre, America swore vengeance. Look up Cofer Black and ‘flies walking across eyeballs’ on the internet.