This policy in practice was disastrous and led to a global upsurge in terrorist violence. For India, the Taliban victory resulted in a precipitous and ignominious flight from Kabul. In 1996, Indian diplomats packed their bags hastily and departed abandoning a once proud embassy. For many years, Indian foreign policymakers impotently wrung their hands in South Block while the Taliban and their Pakistani masters freely roamed the deserts and mountains of Afghanistan, putting to sword anyone who had the potential to disagree with them. India’s helplessness was further highlighted in 1999 when a hijacked Indian Airlines aircraft was taken to Kandahar and released only after New Delhi agreed to free three top Islamist terrorists.
The Indians could return only after the US military had chased the Taliban and the Pakistani Army out of Afghanistan. Once the embassy in Kabul was re-opened, the Indians gradually operationalised its consulates in the cities of Herat, Kandahar, Jalalabad and Mazaar-e-Sharif. The Indian government also pledged to help in the Afghan reconstruction and has, till date, allocated a whopping $ 750 million for various projects — roads, mobile communication networks, electricity transmission lines etc. India, like most other countries, hoped that economic reconstruction, the beginnings of democracy and continued pressure on the Taliban would bring Afghanistan back from the brink.
http://newageislam.com/is-it-time-for-india-to-join-us-war-in-afghanistan?/war-on-terror/d/876
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9:50 PM
Moderate Islamist here
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