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India has historically enjoyed warm ties with Afghanistan except the period when the Taliban were in power in the 1990s. The monarchy in Afghanistan remained equidistant to India and Pakistan during the conflicts between the two countries. When Afghanistan became a republic, following Daoud Khan’s bloodless coup in 1973, Kabul grew closer towards New Delhi. When the communist People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) captured power in 1978, which was followed by bloodshed, Soviet intervention and a civil war, India was the only non-communist country, India was the only non-communist country that had recognised the Soviet-backed regime. Even the Mujahideen-run regime in Kabul, which followed the PDPA regime, established close ties with Delhi after the initial scepticism. After the fall of the Taliban in 2001, India would emerge as a key player in Afghanistan by making investments and building stronger political ties with the new regime. But the Taliban’s return in 2021, after two decades of American occupation, posed a major regional challenge to India.
