RSTV: India's Afghan Policy

Rajya Sabha TV has a segment on India's Afghan policy:






Vivek Katju needs to explain how we will avoid a repetition of Indian Airlines flight 814 hijacking, which Pakistan orchestrated and sent into Taliban-controlled territory, thus forcing us to bow to terrorist demands (Pakistan's demands) to save the passenger being held hostage.

The best strategy might be to negotiate a de-facto partition between the Pashtun southern Afghanistan and the non-Pashtun northern Afghanistan. Non-Pashtun northern Afghanistan should be separated, to ensure that it can stay viable and free from domination by Pakistan/Taliban. Once US withdraws, then US and India  can arm and support southern Afghanistan not merely to oppose its fall to Pakistani/Taliban forces., but even to help the Pashtuns of southern Afghanistan to influence the Pashtuns of northern Pakistan, leading to reunification/Pashtunistan. There's an old saying: "When you stare into the Abyss, the Abyss stares back" - so Pakistan's arming of Pashtuns for Taliban will automatically spill back over into northern Pakistan.

Best to leverage the natural ethnic fault lines of Afghanistan. Defending only just the non-Pashtun north is an easier battle for us to win - especially if the US is on our side. By keeping the non-Pashtun Afghan north separate, we can help the Pashtun Afghan south to naturally gravitate toward Pakistan's Pashtun north to consolidate with it. The more time that passes, the more there will be a natural de facto Pashtun ethnic reunification that puts Pakistan on the ropes.