New Delhi, Oct 8 (FN Agency) India will wait for the situation in Afghanistan to “play out” as it is less than two months since the Taliban took over, and it is “quite obvious that things are far from settled” in Kabul, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Friday. In a wide ranging talk at the India Today conclave, answering a question on Afghanistan, he said: “It’s been less than two months since the Taliban took Afghanistan, and it’s quite obvious that things are far from settled in Kabul. I would urge some patience, some deliberation and some caution.” “The media have different timelines, you will keep provoking me and asking me to react. I am introducing an element of practicality, and saying we will wait for the situation to play out.” Asked if the Taliban takeover and the spurt of killings of civilians by terrorists in Kashmir are linked, he said: “I would be concerned with what is happening, especially the targeted killings (in Kashmir), whether to make the connection; I would like to see evidence of connection there, if there is; maybe there is, and maybe there isn’t.”
On the tensions with China on the border, he said that from the 1980s India had developed a workable relationship with the Chinese predicated on peace and tranquility on the border area. “In 2020, we saw the Chinese disregard those for reasons that are not clear to us. I met our counterpart, and still we’ve not heard a credible explanation, on why they chose to bring that size of forces to that side of the border.” “If attempts are being made to change the LAC unilaterally, in contravention of agreements, I think they need to stick with agreements and do the right things. We have made progress in Pangong Tso, and in other places, but a large problem remains.” On opposition leader Rahul Gandhi alleging that the government has not briefed them on the border situation, he said: “I have been in government for a long time. I think governments, when it comes to the national security situation, they say enough so that people have a fair sense of what is happening and expect people will have an understanding. And if people are busy politicking over it, then I will say it is a sorry state of affairs.” “Nobody can say I have not been told enough,” he said, adding that there is a foreign consultative committee where the issue is discussed.
“I don’t see any particular connection between that and Quad. Japan and India are not involved in it,” he said, adding that in today’s world “everybody deals with everybody else” and that Australia and India have a trilateral with Indonesia, and Japan and with France. “The nature of diplomacy has changed and the combination of countries is getting more and more routinised, and partly because we are moving away from a bipolar and unipolar state, and the US finds it useful to work with other countries, and multilateral solutions are not available, and the UN is gridlocked and is anachronistic, and is not there when problems are there, and then countries say we will find our own fix.” On how the External Affairs Ministry deals with different US administrations, and how was it dealing with the Trump administration and now with the Biden one, he said: “It’s the nature of our business to adjust to what is out there; if you have a Trump administration, you study it, dissect it, and figure out how to make a pitch, and how to approach them. Diplomacy is about, to study foreign governments, and figure out how to get your work done. Asked if he takes breaks amidst his hectic schedule, he said: “There are so many things happening in the country and around the world, even if someone gave you an off day, you wouldn’t take it,” adding that he takes a walk and plays some sports every day in the morning by way of exercise.