Afghanistan crisis: India anticipated Taliban takeover but timeline surprised us, says CDS Bipin Rawat

Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat said, `Yes, the timeline certainly surprised us because we were anticipating this thing happening a couple of months down the line but it is much the same, the same Taliban which was there 20 years ago.`

New Delh: In his first comments on Afghanistan, India's Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat has said that "Taliban takeover was anticipated" but the "timeline surprised us". On August 15, the Taliban took over the Afghan national capital Kabul with the then Afghan President Ashraf Ghani leaving the country. 

Speaking at an event, General Rawat said, "Everything that has happened was something that was anticipated, only the timelines have changed. From the Indian preceptive we were anticipating Taliban takeover of Afghanistan...Yes, the timeline certainly surprised us because we were anticipating this thing happening couple of months down the line but it is much the same, the same Taliban which was there 20 years ago."

India since then has evacuated a number of its nationals and opened the gates for Afghans, particularly the minority Sikhs and Hindus. Over the weekend, two Afghan Sikh MPs-- Anarkali Honaryar and Narendra Singh Khalsa also reached Delhi even as fears grow if the Taiban will respect the minority rights.

The top Indian General highlighted Indian concerns over terror saying, "We were concerned about how terrorist activity from Afghanistan could overflow into India. So to that extend our contingency planning had been ongoing and we are prepared for it. "

The worry is that Pakistan-based terror groups like Lashkar-E-Toiba and Jaish-E-Mohammad might establish safe haven in the country under Taliban rule. India has raised the matter at several multilateral meetings including the United Nations, BRICS.

He dismissed relation between Indo Pacific and Afghan crisis impacting each other saying, "Indo pacific is on different plane all together, dealing with Afghanistan, Taliban, terrorism, from that perspective, is something which we are all together fighting the global war on terrorism", explaining that any support from Quad on dealing with terror "will be welcomed".

India, along with the US has been strong supporter of Indo Pacific vision that sees Indian and Pacific oceans as one construct but China sees this with suspicion.  Rawat pointed," Indo pacific should not be looked through the same prism (as Afghanistan), they are two different issues. Yes, challenge to security in the region, both pose challenge to security, but they are on two different planes and those 2 parallel lines are unlikely to meet."