Afghanistan Peace CampaignPolitical analysts said that improving relations between Afghanistan and India will be beneficial for both countries.
The Minister of External Affairs of India, S Jaishankar, said that they have decided not to send an ambassador to its embassy in Afghanistan, but will keep the embassy open.
Speaking at the India International Centre, Jaishankar added that it is still too early to judge the recent events in Afghanistan, but India will monitor the situation in Afghanistan.
“At this time in Afghanistan we have what we had. — So, we have decided that we would maintain an embassy not at an ambassador level yet. A lot of other countries have done it, but I should tell you that a lot of countries have sent back their ambassadors, we have not done so, and we have focused on areas which we believe will impact the Afghan people and will be recognized by the Afghan people. So, it was food support initially, it was providing vaccines, it is providing medicines to a hospitals which we built many years ago out there. That is broadly where we are at this stage, but how do we go further, I think we will have to wait and see. The fact is at the end of the day, we are not in a position in Afghanistan or in many other places to necessarily say I’ll work with a regime I like, I cannot be utterly unrealistic about what has happened in Afghanistan,” Jaishankar noted.
The Islamic Emirate asked India to activate its embassy in Afghanistan, and guaranteed that both the Indian representation and its staff in Afghanistan will not be in danger.
“They should open their embassies. We assure them that there is no danger to them in Afghanistan and we will cooperate in this regard. India’s diplomatic cooperation through the embassy is possible, and they may be in contact with us more and the two nations’ trust can increase,” said Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman of the Islamic Emirate.
Political analysts said that improving relations between Afghanistan and India will be beneficial for both countries.
“The economies of Pakistan and Iran are reliant on Afghanistan. India is further away and does not feel obliged to recognize it, and maintaining the embassy with a minimal expenditure is basically an intelligence monitoring of the situation in Afghanistan,” said Tariq Farhadi, a political analyst.
“The Indians seek to monitor the situation in Afghanistan with their security presence through their experienced, educated and skilled security teams,” said Noorullah Raghi, a former diplomat.
Following the fall of the previous the government, India expelled its ambassadors from Afghanistan due to the security concerns.
Earlier, the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a technical team to its mission in Afghanistan to assist in resolving the issues facing both nations.