Will the Taliban takeover of Kabul play out in Kashmir?

New Delhi, Aug 18: There have been reports stating that the Taliban is unlikely to focus on Kashmir as it feels that this is India's internal issue. Reports say that the Taliban has made it clear it would not focus on Kashmir.

The question remains how much can the Taliban be trusted and would it not back a Pakistan sponsored agenda in the Valley. Abhinav Pandya, a Cornell University graduate in public affairs, is a policy analyst specialising in counterterrorism tells OneIndia that these developments are going to be tough for us.

The motivation and passion following the victory of the Taliban will play out in India as well. There are many within the country who are happy with this victory and we have seen statements to this effect as well, Pandya who also has written for the Vivekananda International Foundation(VIF) says.

Pandya also adds that some of the radical and more fundamentalist factions like the Deobandis and Wahhabis will draw inspiration from the victory of the Taliban and are likely to join terror groups like the Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Tayiba. One must also make a note of the fact that these are also trying to provoke and incite the Indian Muslims by spreading a false narrative of the policies made by the Narendra Modi government.

He also adds that terrorism in Kashmir was largely localised. Now with this Taliban victory, they would become the international players. China will use the Taliban to keep us boxed up in Kashmir and not focus elsewhere, he also adds.

On whether Taliban will continue treat Kashmir as India's internal issue, Pandya says that he does not buy this. The Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Tayiba and other groups share the same ideology as the Taliban does. Hence they will try and interfere. I am not saying that they would have a clear run in India as we are capable of fighting them. It is time we make a very strong statement against them, Pandya adds.

Other experts that we spoke with say that we need to wait and watch. India should not rush into aligning with anyone on this issue now. We need to wait for a while and then continue to focus on development work and if we do so the pendulum will swing gradually. At least for a year, Delhi should not get involved in strategic and security matters. Instead let us take more counter measures, they also add.