‘Afghanistan Factor’ in India–Russia Relationship

Abstract

Afghanistan has been an important factor in India–Russia ties. There was not much cooperation between them before 1979. However, in later years, the two countries had an intelligence-sharing mechanism along with Afghanistan in order to deal with their common security challenges which had close links with security situation in Afghanistan. In the 1990s, India–Russia supported their mutual fight against terrorism as Taliban-controlled Afghanistan became a common security challenge. In the current context, both countries have established institutional mechanisms to coordinate their Afghanistan policies. Their engagement with Taliban is ‘conditional’ while the two countries would continue to share intelligence and coordinate their respective Afghanistan policies since they still face similar security challenges from Afghanistan.