India should arm Afghan Taliban against Pakistan: Sushant Sareen

India should consider formally recognising the Taliban government in Afghanistan and providing it with military assistance to counter Pakistan, strategic affairs analyst Sushant Sareen has argued, calling for a rethink of New Delhi’s approach to its western neighbourhood.Speaking on Faultline with Ananya Dasgupta on Times Axis, Sareen said India should not allow international consensus to dictate its Afghanistan policy. He argued that if Pakistan was using military force to pressure the Taliban, India should consider helping the Afghan regime defend itself.“If the Afghan Taliban are going to be bullied by the Pakistanis… then maybe we should help them militarily,” Sareen said. “So that they can also hit back.”He went beyond making a general case for military assistance, suggesting that India consider supplying Afghanistan with anti-drone systems, drone technology and missile capabilities.“If you can give them some anti-drone systems to the Afghans, if you can give them maybe some drone technology, which will help them fight back, maybe give them some missile systems or, you know, long-range rocket systems,” Sareen said.“Why not? I think we should consider it so that at least the Pakistanis cannot, you know, bully somebody into submission,” he added, arguing that India needed to be more willing to take risks if it wanted to project power internationally.Sareen’s argument comes against the backdrop of growing tensions between Pakistan and the Taliban, once backed by Islamabad but now increasingly unwilling to follow its instructions. The conflict has exposed the limits of Pakistan’s long-standing effort to exercise strategic influence over Afghanistan.Sareen said India should also reconsider its refusal to formally recognise the Taliban government, which came to power in 2021. He argued that recognition need not mean approval of the regime’s ideology or policies.“Recognition does not mean endorsement,” he said, pointing out that countries maintain diplomatic relations with governments whose actions they do not necessarily agree with.According to Sareen, the Taliban are the de facto rulers of Afghanistan and India already has a degree of engagement with them. He questioned why New Delhi should continue to hold back from formal recognition simply because other countries have not changed their position.Sareen said New Delhi should make its own assessment of what serves Indian interests, rather than remain constrained by concerns about how other countries might react.“The world doesn't ask us for our opinions before they start doing things,” he said.Sareen believes Pakistan’s Afghan strategy has backfired. Islamabad once viewed the Taliban as a means of securing influence in Afghanistan, but the relationship has turned adversarial as the Taliban has asserted its own interests.Explaining the mistake in Pakistan’s calculations, Sareen said Islamabad had mistaken a temporary alliance with sections of the Afghan population for lasting control.“You can rent an Afghan, you can't buy him,” he said, adding that the Afghans acted in Pakistan’s interests only as long as it suited them. Once they gained greater agency, they began pursuing their own priorities.Pakistan accuses the Taliban of providing sanctuary to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), whose attacks have targeted the Pakistani state. The Taliban, in turn, has resisted pressure from Islamabad and accused Pakistan of backing groups opposed to its rule.Sareen also discussed Pakistan’s interest in the Wakhan Corridor, a narrow strip of Afghan territory that could provide direct connectivity to Central Asia. He said Pakistan appeared to see control of the corridor as a way to gain strategic leverage over the Taliban, but warned that such a move could invite retaliation.For India, Sareen argued, the question is whether the deteriorating relationship between Pakistan and the Taliban creates an opportunity to protect its own strategic interests. He urged New Delhi to consider both diplomatic recognition and military assistance, while acknowledging that a more assertive role would carry risks.His proposal raises a difficult question for Indian policymakers: could a former Pakistani ally now become a strategic counterweight to Islamabad — and is New Delhi prepared to act on that possibility?You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.