India in a Post-America Asia

By MARWA IKHMAYES

Ian Williams, president of the Foreign Press Association in New York, held a virtual meeting this Thursday with Dr. Shashi Tharoor, member of the House of Representatives in India, to discuss recent events in Afghanistan.

India today faces geopolitical dilemmas with neighboring countries such as China, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. “Taliban/Afghanistan became the basis, the source for unleashing hostility and terrorist attacks on India,” Dr. Shashi said. “When 9/11 led the U.S. to get rid of the Taliban government in Afghanistan, India was among those that signed on and spent the next 20 years investing rather heavily in Afghan democracy.”

Throughout the process of investing in democracy in Afghanistan, India spent three billion dollars, making India the second-largest donor to Afghanistan over the past 20 years. Dr. Shashi said, “Doing everything from bringing 24/7 electricity to Kapul, constructing highways . . . to Afghanistan, building the Afghan parliament, the biggest children’s hospital, and hundreds of smaller projects including girls’ schools in many parts of Afghanistan.”

But with the Taliban taking over the country, this investment is now out of India’s control for the moment.

The Taliban’s return to power across the region has led India to face deeper complexities. China, Pakistan and Afghanistan now pose a kind of existential threat. China is investing in Pakistan now more than ever. The good relations between China, Pakistan, and Afghanistan are leaving India to rethink its relationship with the Taliban, keeping in mind the three billion dollars India invested.

“To create an enemy” is not India’s best interest, considering India’s geopolitical position now, Dr. Shahi said. Remaining with the Taliban, or even agreeing to work with them, would benefit India, he suggested.