“Pakistan is the biggest winner from Taliban’s invasion of Afghanistan” says former Indian foreign secretary Shyam Saran. In an interview given to Karan Thapar for The Wire, Shyam admitted that Pakistan has gained the most from the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
He also agreed when the host said that India has essentially come out as losers in the entire scenario. He said this is “an undoubted setback for India, there is no other way of describing it.”
The former foreign secretary has called the collapse of the Ashraf Ghani government and the shattering images of the withdrawal from Kabul as “humiliating” for the US.
https://twitter.com/sadia_______/status/1429556023354875905
Saran disagreed with the view of one of his predecessors as foreign secretary, Krishnan Srinivasan, that India made a mistake withdrawing its ambassador and diplomats. He said history suggests keeping the mission open is a risk that India could not have taken.
Shyam also pointed out that one way of recovering lost ground would be for the Indian government to “convey reassurance” to all Afghan citizens in India. He said the Indian government should permit Afghans to stay for as long as necessary and facilitate and help them in doing so. Saran also specifically stated that Indian government should permit all the relatives of Afghan people already in India to join them and facilitate this. When asked if he really believed the Modi government would do so he said “I definitely hope so.”
Read more: Pakistan-India thaw: diplomatic visas reinstated
Well, India keeps on endangering itself through series of mis-calculations. 3rd rate bureaucrats like Shyam Saran backed the Maoists of Nepal and included Afghanistan in SAARC.
— Katrina Fan (@Katrina67729808) August 15, 2021
Reaction
Indians were not happy with the comments made by Shyam Saran and called him the “worst foreign secretary for India”. He is also criticized for his role in including Afghanistan as the 8th member of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
#Taliban Another Shyam Saran folly. He included Afghanistan as 8th member of SAARC. One day, Taliban will be the chair of SAARC. This man was India's worst foreign secretary. He backed Maoists in Nepal but could not see the Taliban coming to power!
— sushila sharma (@Sharma2007Kumar) August 15, 2021
Read more: Hekmatyar warns India against its role in Afghanistan