Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi held discussions with ex-Pakistan Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa before reaching out to India for the reopening of its High Commission in Afghanistan, a new book on the movement claims.
Excerpts of the book, authored by Hassan Abbas, a professor of International Relations at the Washington-based National Defence University (NDU), were published by Pakistani media on Wednesday.
According to Abbas, New Delhi's return to Afghanistan "could not have happened without Pakistan — and Pakistan acted this way because it just might open up prospects of some aid for the Taliban in Afghanistan".
He suggests Islamabad was becoming increasingly desperate about securing foreign funds -- much like the Islamic group themselves wanted to see an influx of foreign funds to ensure smooth functioning of the government.
"The Taliban desire is simple — international legitimacy and recognition," the author of the book argues.
Elaborating on the point, the book says that Kabul realises the war-torn nation requires "huge external investments … to reconstruct and revive the country" and New Delhi has the financial resources to help in Kabul's rebuilding efforts.
At the same time, the book says, Afghanistan is of strategic importance to New Delhi: the ties between the Taliban and India seem to have been on the mend in recent months, after India reopened its embassy in the Afghan capital last year.
This has been validated in the book, which pointed out that "India is now seriously reassessing its position and moving towards a balancing act in its effort to engage with the Taliban and help stabilise Afghanistan".
*under UN sanctions for terrorism