Opinion Meeting between India and Central Asian Republics underscores shared concerns on Afghanistan

The meeting of the foreign ministers of India and five Central Asian countries for the third edition of their dialogue in Delhi has underscored the consensus for peace and stability in Afghanistan. Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan share land borders with Afghanistan, and instability in that country affects them directly, as it has already done. Ethnic Tajik, Turk and Uzbek are significant minorities in Afghanistan, and the first to be impacted by Taliban’s exclusionary ideology. Including Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic, the Central Asian Republics fear the impact of the export of radical Islam, terrorism and drugs into their own territories. India shares these worries. A meeting of national security advisers hosted by India a month ago had also drawn attention to these shared concerns. The joint statement by the foreign ministers called on the Taliban to form an inclusive and representative government, respect women and minority rights, combat terrorism and drug trafficking, and also urged immediate humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. But different countries in the region are still formulating their own positions on a Taliban regime in Kabul.

Not evident in the joint statement are the differences between the CARs on how to proceed on Afghanistan. Russia has been balancing its relations with the Taliban through these republics. Tajikistan, which has strong ties with Russia, for instance, has a different, more confrontational approach to the Taliban than Uzbekistan’s conciliatory attitude, because of cross-border links with the mostly-Tajik Northern Alliance. Moreover, all central Asian countries remain in discussions with Pakistan over the developments in Afghanistan. That the CAR foreign ministers skipped an Organisation of Islamic Co-operation meeting in Islamabad to attend the Delhi meeting is a reaffirmation of India’s long-standing relationship with these countries since the time they were part of the USSR. But it is also true that as India wooed the US and China, it paid less attention to these post-Soviet independent states until some 10 years ago, even as their strategic importance as hubs of energy and trade corridors was growing.

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While Moscow remains influential in the CAR, Beijing has recently built deep economic ties, including trade, which is valued at $100 bn, apart from big investments in the region. The CAR are enthusiastic supporters of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. The Delhi joint statement sought to emphasise the difference between India and China by committing to connectivity initiatives on the basis of “principles of transparency, broad participation, local priorities, financial sustainability and respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity”. It may be due to lack of connectivity that trade between India and the CAR is a poor $2 bn. Chabahar in Iran may help to improve this. But it is time India stopped looking at these countries through an over-securitised lens, or as a contest with China. The invitation to the leaders of these five countries as chief guests at the 2022 Republic Day celebration should be the opportunity to make a fresh start.

This editorial first appeared in the print edition on December 21, 2021 under the title ‘A common ground’.