On November 11, 2021, AISS held an online discussion on ‘India’s New Afghanistan Engagement’. Heela Najibullah, Peace Scholar and Daughter of President Najibullah, Amb Ashraf Haidari, Afghanistan Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Ali Maisam Nazary, Head of Foreign Relations of National Resistance Front (NRF), Ambassador Guatam Mukhopadhaya, Former India Ambassador to Afghanistan and DR Ashok Behuria, Senior Fellow at IDSA, participated in the discussion with moderation by The Hindu’s Diplomatic Editor, Suhasini Haidar. 
The panelists discussed India’s role and potential for engagement with Afghanistan’s “new rulers”, the Taliban, and how India and other regional countries should engage in providing aide to Afghanistan, to address the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the country.
Panelists also covered the issue of “recognition“ of the Taliban, and the fundamental differences between engagement and the danger of “recognition“ and “legitimatizing“ an illegal occurrence.
The panelists proposed that India should continue India-Afghanistan people-to-people relationship in the form of trade. The panelists also proposed that India should continue to provide educational opportunities and assist the people of Afghanistan with visas to those who are escaping “persecution by Taliban”.
The panel also discussed the concept of “resistance” and its various manifestations, including the future of the National Resistance Front (NRF) in Afghanistan, and whether India should engage with the NRF.
You can listen to the panel discussion online at the link below: