Kabul based sources including those in General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI), the intelligence agency of Afghanistan, have denied reports that its members are working as diplomats in New Delhi.
Terming the reports claiming presence of GDI officials in Delhi since February as ‘totally false’, GDI sources and independent sources with links in GDI told the Sunday Guardian that the baseless reports were being generated to damage the ties between Kabul and Delhi and involve Western countries who are publicly sensitive with the issue of their allies engaging on strategic and security issues with Kabul.
The presence of GDI officials in Delhi would imply that India was engaging with Kabul on security related aspects, something that can only be done when the ties between the two countries have reached a level of mutual trust.
The said news was initially shared by entities who are seen as ‘anti-Taliban’. This was then amplified by outlets who are considered as the propaganda arm of Pakistan’s intelligence agency.
Sources familiar with the security situation in Kabul told the Sunday Guardian that amidst the warmth between Kabul and Delhi, the ties between Kabul and Islamabad are at their lowest ebb as a result of which the Pakistan deep state is using terror organizations like ISIS (Daesh) to weaken the Taliban government.
With selected Indian media outlets carrying stories and opinion pieces that have revealed the nexus between ISIS and Islamabad, it is likely that Pakistan based spy masters and their subordinates want to weave a false narrative of presence of GDI officials Delhi in order to discredit these media reports.
It is pertinent to mention that when it had become clear the Taliban was going to take over Kabul, a narrative was sought to be established that once Kabul come under the rule of Taliban, it will become a vassal of Islamabad and a safe haven for anti-India terror organizations like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad. However, nothing of this sort was allowed to happen by the new government of Kabul.
In a normal diplomatic setup, the guest country, most of the time, posts officials from its security setup at its embassies and high commissions so that they can collaborate on relevant topics. While publicly they are not recognized as someone from the intelligence setup, as per norms, their real identity is made known to the host country.
While India has not formally resumed its diplomatic ties with Afghanistan , after the Taliban took over the country post the withdrawal of the U.S troops in August 2021, the two countries are working together on several issues including humanitarian assistance.
In June 2022, India had sent a technical team to Kabul at its embassy. India has also sent several shipments of humanitarian assistance consisting of 50,000 MTs of wheat, 250 tons of medical aid and 28 tons of earthquake relief aid since then. The consignments were handed over to the United Nations World Food Programme (UNWFP), United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health (IGICH) and Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS).
It has also supplied, in partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) since 2022, 11,000 units of hygiene kits, baby food, blankets, clothing, medical aid and other miscellaneous items to Kabul. Similarly, since August 2021, under the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) scholarship scheme admissions have been given to more than 3000 students, including 600 Afghan girls. ICCR is also executing an online scholarship scheme for 1000 Afghan students in Indian Universities through e-Vidya Bharti portal. Of the total admissions under this scheme, 30% admissions were granted to female students. It has continued its collaboration with the Afghan National Agricultural Science and Technical University (ANASTU) by providing online scholarships for Afghan students in agro-related fields. Apart from that, India has also continued trade and commerce through various official routes, including through the Chabahar port.
Kabul maintains three installations in India- the embassy in New Delhi and the Consulates in Mumbai and Hyderabad. All three are functioning. After August 2021, few Afghan diplomats had left India after obtaining residency in other countries. India has, over the past few years, executed more than five hundred projects spread across each of the 34 provinces of the country in critical areas of power, water supply, road connectivity, healthcare, education, agriculture and capacity building.