India's Strategic Alignment with the Afghan Taliban Poses a Grave Threat to Pakistan's National Security

Strategic Insights -

India's recent engagement with the Afghan Taliban regime has significant implications for regional stability, particularly for Pakistan. During Afghan Interim Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi's visit to India (October 9-16, 2025), he adopted an unusually hostile tone toward Pakistan, echoing New Delhi's rhetoric. This visit reflects a deeper and forward-looking geopolitical alignment between India and the Afghan Taliban, aimed at weakening Pakistan. Historically, New Delhi maintained this strategic approach toward Pakistan since 1947, but the current engagement with the Taliban regime is a significant departure from its past hostility.

Key Takeaways:

  • India's Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) established contacts with Taliban figures in the early 2000s, and India began openly engaging with the Taliban soon after they retook Kabul in August 2021.
  • India's engagement with the Taliban regime is part of a larger plan to foment instability inside Pakistan, with FAK (TTP) and Afghan Taliban militias acting as proxy actors.
  • Pakistan maintained diplomatic engagement with the Taliban regime for two key reasons: to restrain the activities of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and preserve regional stability.
  • India's invitation to Mr. Muttaqi in October 2025 is seen as part of a larger plan following its military defeat in the brief four-day border conflict with Pakistan (May 6-10, 2025).
  • Contacts between Indian and Taliban officials have been steadily increasing since 2022, with a key meeting taking place in Dubai on January 8, 2025, where both sides agreed to 'revive historic ties' through trade, people-to-people contact, and cooperation in development projects.
  • The RAW-NDS alliance has long exploited Afghan territory to promote terrorism inside Pakistan, with the Taliban regime abetting the terrorists of FAK and BLA from its soil.

Statistics:

  • Over five million Afghan refugees have been hosted by Pakistan since 1979.
  • Pakistan continues to provide vital trade routes, humanitarian aid, healthcare, and employment opportunities to Afghan citizens.
  • In 2022, India reopened its embassy in Kabul and signed a trade expansion agreement with the Taliban government, allowing commerce through both air corridors and Chabahar Port.
  • India's military setback in May 2025 has led to feelings of isolation in South and Central Asia.

Sources:

  • "BJP-Taliban Ties and Their Implications" by Mirwais Balkhi (Wilson Centre, December 12, 2023)
  • Note by Professor Happymon Jacob, noted Indian expert and academic on international relations and strategic affairs.
  • Excerpts from an Indian general's statement on the hiring of Afghan Taliban fighters as killers for a few thousand USDs.