New Delhi: Former Minister of External Affairs Yashwant Sinha on Thursday said India had to ‘open minded’ about dealing with the Taliban and suggested that it had to open his embassy in Kabul and send back the ambassador.
Noting that Afghans have great love for India while Pakistan is not popular among them, Sinha told PTI in an interview that the Indian government should not conclude that the Taliban will place himself “in Pakistan’s lap” because every country continues its own interests.
As a large country, India must approach the Taliban problem with the level of confidence and should not indulge in “widow roar” as if Pakistan has taken over Afghanistan or has a superiority, he added.
That the Taliban now controls most Afghanistan is reality, said Sinha, adding that India must adopt the “wait and watch” mode and in no hurry to recognize or ignore the regime.
The Taliban swept Afghanistan this month, grabbed the control of almost all cities and key cities of Afghanistan in the country after withdrawing US troops from the country.
Kabul also fell to the Taliban on Sunday after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani left the country for unknown purposes.
“It appeared in advance that the Taliban in 2021 was not the same Taliban in 2001.
There seemed to be some difference.
They made a mature statement.
That is something we have to pay attention to,” said Sinha.
“I am not saying that taking their statement at a nominal value but I would also suggest that they should not be dismissed out of control because of their past behavior.
We must look at this time and the future,” he added.
Sinha was the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Government of Bihari Vajpayee Atal but became a criticism of the Modi government and left BJP.
He is currently the Vice President at the Trinamool Congress.
He said India was supposed to wait instead of immediately close his embassy and evacuated his people after an extremist Islamic organization captured Kabul.
India on Tuesday rushed back to his ambassador’s house Rudrendra Tandon and staff from the Embassy in Kabul on a military transport aircraft following rising tensions, fears and uncertainty who gripped the Afghan capital after the Taliban guerrillas confiscated the Afghan capital on Sunday.
This policy needs to be second, Sinha said, noting that the Taliban held talks with former Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who served after US leadership troops had overthrew the Taliban regime before the 9/11 terror attack, and former CEO Abdullah Abdullah.
It is impossible to imagine before, Sinha said.
He added, “India must immediately open his embassy in Kabul and send the Ambassador back.” “We must remember that Afghans have great love for India.
Pakistan is not popular with Afghans, India.
That we must remember.
Our development work has also been appreciated,” he said.
The organization was nicknamed because the terror groups had occupied the highest office in the past and had changed, he noted, said that India had to wait to see how the Taliban took the Taliban Afghan Pot.
To turn off always is changing your face from reality, he said.
India must be ‘open minded’ about dealing with the Taliban: Yashwant Sinha
