Afghan chaos further incentive for India’s efforts to strengthen ties with Iran
The recent rise of the Taliban in Kabul has expedited New Delhi's efforts to boost ties with Iran, which is positioned to be India's main corridor to Afghanistan, yet major challenges remain.
The Indian government, which has been reaching out to the new administration in Iran to establish closer ties that New Delhi sees as important to its regional aims, has seen its efforts become all the more pressing in light of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban's subsequent takeover.
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has visited Tehran twice this summer, the second time as one of the high-profile guests at the Aug. 5 inauguration of Iran’s new president, Ebrahim Raisi. Just weeks before, Jaishankar had presented the Iranian leader with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's handwritten note of congratulations on Raisi's June 18 election victory.
D.P. Srivastava, a former Indian ambassador, said, “The presence of the [foreign minister] at the swearing-in is itself a pointer to the view held by India at the highest level. We have common interests in the region.”
Amid the US withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and the quick rise of the Taliban, conditions remain chaotic and unstable. India, like many other countries in the region, is now trying to gain a foothold in Afghanistan. As India has no common borders with Kabul — and its archrivals Pakistan and China do — New Delhi sees its gateway to Afghanistan as going through Tehran, which also abuts Afghanistan. Indeed, India has long been working with Iran on providing an economic pathway from the Iranian port of Chabahar into Afghanistan.
