India’s Afghanistan Ties Have Spanned Soviet War, Taliban Rule And Diplomatic Shifts
By Jayanta Bhattacharya
NEW DELHI-Afghanistan has seen an apparent “increase” in India’s pragmatic engagement with the Taliban authorities in recent months, as the regime marks five years of rule in Kabul this month.
India’s diplomatic ties with Afghanistan have endured through decades of conflict and political upheaval. The Indian Embassy in Kabul kept the Tricolor flying even during the tumultuous period that followed the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan.
The Soviet withdrawal, which began in 1988 and was completed in 1989, ended a decade-long conflict that had profound regional and global consequences. The then Soviet Union had intervened to support a Communist-led government in Kabul but faced strong resistance from insurgent mujahideen, a coalition of guerrilla groups trained and armed by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), with assistance from the US and other countries.
Details of the covert operation involving the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Pakistan’s ISI were later chronicled by Brigadier Mohammad Yousaf, who headed the ISI’s Afghan Bureau, in the book ‘Afghanistan: The Bear Trap: The Defeat of a Superpower’, co-written with British soldier and author Mark Adkin. The long war strained the Soviet economy and contributed to Cold War tensions, earning the conflict the nickname “Soviet Union’s Vietnam”.
Deposed Afghan President Mohammad Najibullah took refuge in a United Nations compound housing the Office of the Secretary-General in Afghanistan and Pakistan (OSGAP). He remained there for four years after a failed attempt to flee, until the Taliban took over Kabul for the first time in 1996 and executed him.
Ahead of the Taliban takeover, India closed its embassy in Kabul in September 1996 on the advice of Afghan ministers and officials, many of whom were withdrawing to the comparative safety of the northern mountains.
After the end of the Taliban’s first regime, India re-established diplomatic relations with the new Afghan government, provided aid and participated in the country’s reconstruction efforts.
On July 7, 2008, a suicide bomber detonated a car laden with explosives at the entrance of the Indian Embassy in Kabul, killing 59 people, including four Indian officials and a local driver. More than 150 people, including five personnel of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), were seriously injured. Despite the attack, the mission continued its work.
The embassy was forced to close again in 2021 as the Taliban returned to Kabul amid the withdrawal of US-led forces after two decades of military presence in Afghanistan. India reopened its mission in 2025, marking a significant step in restoring high-level diplomatic engagement with Afghanistan and strengthening its involvement in the country’s future.
Pakistan-backed Afghan fighters have historically been hostile towards India. During the mujahideen era, Pashtun leaders such as Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Abdul Rasul Sayyaf expressed hostility towards India, while many of their fighters spoke of the “Kashmir war”. Some Afghan fighters were among terrorists apprehended or killed in Jammu and Kashmir.
On the other hand, Tajik and Uzbek commanders such as Ahmad Shah Massoud and Abdul Rashid Dostum welcomed humanitarian assistance from New Delhi.
Even under the Taliban, its leadership turned away from Pakistan before India stepped up its outreach. This largely stems from the long-standing Pashtun grievance over the Durand Line, drawn by British diplomat Sir Henry Mortimer Durand in 1893. Pashtuns contend that the border unfairly divided areas where they form a majority.
Pakistan’s treatment of the Taliban as a “big brother” has also added to tensions between the two sides, with Islamabad increasingly being viewed by the Taliban leadership as an impediment to governance rather than a supportive partner.
