Shashi Tharoor on India’s Pragmatic yet Principled Outreach to Taliban-led Afghanistan
Shashi Tharoor argues that India’s engagement with the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan balances strategic pragmatism with moral concerns. India’s outreach aims to secure regional security, protect longstanding development ties, and counter geopolitical rivals, while facing domestic unease due to Taliban policies, especially on women’s rights. Tharoor calls for accountability and ethical guardrails in diplomacy to reconcile principle with realpolitik.
Shashi Tharoor explores the tension in India’s foreign policy between moral principles and pragmatic strategy in its recent outreach to Afghanistan’s Taliban-led authorities. India’s engagement is driven by three pragmatic reasons: ensuring Afghanistan’s stability to prevent anti-India terrorism, maintaining extensive development investments, and hedging against geopolitical competitors like Pakistan and China. Despite this pragmatic logic, the outreach stirred controversy internally, particularly around a Taliban-hosted press event excluding women journalists, highlighting the moral compromises involved. Tharoor recalls the historical hostility of the Taliban towards India, notably supporting cross-border terrorism, which long shaped India’s past stance of non-recognition. However, shifting geopolitical realities such as the U.S. withdrawal, regional realignments, and Afghanistan’s aid dependence have prompted India's calibrated engagement without full diplomatic recognition. Tharoor underscores the ethical dilemma posed by the Taliban’s suppression of women’s rights, contrasting it with India’s historic stands against racial oppression. He urges that humanitarian aid must prioritize women’s welfare, diplomatic contacts be conditional and reversible, and India’s constitutional values on gender equality be upheld visibly. Continuous public scrutiny, transparent aid monitoring, and setting clear human rights benchmarks are essential to maintain both national security and democratic dignity. This nuanced approach aims to reconcile India’s strategic imperatives with its moral identity without normalizing repression or risking isolation-induced setbacks.
