‘Taliban’s Rise’ and the South Asian Anxiety: India’s Strategic Recalibration

Abstract

The Asian security crisis vis-a-vis Afghanistan and the unravelling regional dynamics are undoubtedly security concerns for the South Asian (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka) region. This is leading to a future, predicting intensifying geopolitical strife and emerging uncertainties causing crucial dynamics for South Asia. Re-emergence of the Taliban with the rebooting of its fanatic and orthodox ideologies may severely impact the South Asian region. Taliban’s handholding with Al-Qaeda and other fundamental terrorist organisations in the region will breathe more life to the radical groups and the separatists inspiring them to be more dominant in the region. The porous and the disputed borders with the ethnic connections within the region will make it easy to establish a robust mechanism, for the growth of the Taliban’s fundamentalist ideologies across South Asian countries. Another significant and the most crucial dynamic is Afghanistan and Pakistan’s coupling that has been the most dreaded confluence over the decades. This relation has been highly convoluted and has been the facilitator of various terrorist organisations in the past. In the recent perspective, this fusion will be giving more drastic leverages to the militant organisations posing a severe threat before South Asian countries. The bond between the Taliban factions and the active terrorist outfits in Kashmir in India will vigorously facilitate resources in the form of more recruits and weapons providing more power to these groups. The proposed study will be divided into two parts the first part will explore India’s posture in ensuring peace and stability in the region and the second part will deal with a probe into New Delhi’s recalibration of strategies vis-a-vis Afghanistan in the present context.