India anticipated the Taliban takeover but the timeline surprised, says CDS Bipin Rawat

New Delhi: In his first comments on Afghanistan, India's Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat has said that "Taliban takeover was anticipated" but the "timelines surprised us".

On August 15, Taliban took over the Afghanistan capital Kabul and claimed control as Afghan president Ashraf Ghani fled the country. 

Speaking at an event, General Rawat said, “everything that has happened was something that was anticipated, only the timelines have changed. From the Indian preceptive, we were anticipating Taliban takeover of Afghanistan... Yes, the timeline certainly surprised us because we were anticipating this thing happening couple of months down the line but it is much the same, the same Taliban which was there 20 years ago.”

India since then has evacuated number of its nationals and opened the gates for Afghans, particularly the minority Sikhs and Hindus.

Over the weekend, 2 Afghan Sikh MPs, Anarkali Honaryar and Narendra Singh Khalsa also reached Delhi. There is fear and uncertainty if the Taliban will respect the minority rights.

The top Indian General highlighted Indian concerns over terror saying, “We were concerned about how terrorist activity from Afghanistan could overflow into India. So, to that extend our contingency planning had been ongoing and we are prepared for it.”

Worry is that Pakistan based terror groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad might establish safe haven in the country under the Taliban rule. India has raised the matter at several multilateral meetings including the United Nations and BRICS.

General Rawat dismissed relation between Indo Pacific and Afghan crisis impacting each other saying, “Indo-pacific is on different plane all together, dealing with Afghanistan, Taliban terrorism, from that perspective is something which we are all together fighting the global war on terrorism.” He stated that any support from Quad on dealing with terror “will be welcomed.”

India, along with the US, has been a strong supporter of Indo-Pacific vision that sees Indian and Pacific Oceans as one construct but China sees this with suspicion. Rawat pointed out, “Indo-Pacific should not be looked through same prism (as Afghanistan), they are two different issues. Yes, challenge to security in the region, both pose challenge to security, but they are on two different planes and those two parallel lines are unlikely to meet.”

General Rawat was speaking at an interactive session hosted by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF). He was accompanied by Admiral John Aquilino, Commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command.