No talks with Taliban, says India

The Centre on Saturday ruled out the possibility of holding talks with the Taliban and said that New Delhi will only be dealing with the legitimate government led by President Hamid Karzai.

India believes that Taliban is the 'antagonist and not the protagonist' and is also aware of its collusion with the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayiba, said sources. The LeT and the Taliban are specifically targeting Indians and Indian interests in the war-torn country, said sources.

India, which is strongly opposed to the good Taliban-bad Taliban theory, believes that Taliban and Lashkar share a common objective to harm Indian interests in Afghanistan. Sources agree that Lashkar has increased its presence in Afghanistan and it is sharing information, intelligence and even resources with the Taliban.

The situation in Afghanistan needs a lot of tackling, said sources, adding that India is not going to lower its guard and there will be no full stop to its developmental activities in the country.

Government sources indicated that India is strongly banking on President Hamid Karzai, who is currently engaged in the process of reconciliation and reintegration of renegade warlords and militants.

India is convinced that Karzai is well aware of the complexities of the situation and is aware of India's apprehensions of talking or reconciling with the groups like Haqqanis and Hikmatyar, which are backed by Pakistan's covert agency.

Commenting on the increased role of Pakistan in the Afghan endgame with strong US backing, informed sources said, "The US has categorically said that they don't want the process of stability to be outsourced to Pakistan".