by Regional powers find common ground in cumin and coriander
In a development that has foreign policy experts reaching for their spice racks, India and Afghanistan held discussions about expanding the spice trade and joint investments, proving that even the most complicated geopolitical relationships can be smoothed over with the right combination of turmeric and cardamom. A Taliban minister participated in talks that must have been the diplomatic equivalent of a potluck dinner where everyone’s trying to be polite while secretly judging each other’s recipes.
The discussions covered expanding trade in spices, which Afghanistan grows and India apparently can’t get enough of, despite being the world’s spice capital. It’s like Saudi Arabia importing sand, but with more cumin. The talks also touched on joint investments, though what exactly one invests in jointly with the Talibanbesides perhaps a good PR firmremains diplomatically vague.
India’s approach to Afghanistan has always been complex, like a curry with too many ingredients that somehow still works. New Delhi wants influence in Kabul but doesn’t want to anger Pakistan. It wants to help the Afghan people but doesn’t want to legitimize the Taliban. It’s the foreign policy equivalent of trying to hug someone while keeping them at arm’s lengthawkward, uncomfortable, and probably not sustainable long-term.
The Taliban minister, presumably taking a break from implementing medieval governance policies, expressed interest in expanding trade ties with India. One imagines the conversation involved careful diplomatic language like “let’s focus on what brings us togethersaffronrather than what divides usliterally everything else about how to run a government.”
Afghanistan’s spice exports to India include asafoetida, that pungent ingredient that Indian cuisine can’t live without but nobody wants to smell raw. It’s a fitting metaphor for the relationship itself: nobody wants to get too close to the source, but everyone appreciates the end result. The Taliban government sees India as a potential economic lifeline, while India sees Afghanistan as a place where it can exercise influence without the complications of having boots on the ground.
The joint investment discussions are particularly intriguing. What does one jointly invest in with a government that’s internationally isolated, barely recognized, and runs the country like it’s perpetually 1996? “Taliban-approved Infrastructure Projects” doesn’t exactly scream “safe investment” to most venture capitalists. But India, ever the pragmatist, recognizes that ignoring Afghanistan completely just leaves the field open to Pakistan and China.
Observers noted the delicious irony of discussing spice tradethe very commodity that drove European colonization of Indiaas a tool for modern diplomatic engagement. From the British East India Company to Taliban trade ministers, spices remain the gift that keeps on giving to international relations, proving that some things never change even when everything else does.
The talks also revealed India’s strategy of engaging with the Taliban on “humanitarian and economic” issues while carefully avoiding any discussion that might be construed as political recognition. It’s diplomatic cherry-picking at its finest: “We’ll trade with you, we’ll invest with you, but let’s not talk about how you run your country or what happened to women’s rights.”
Afghanistan’s acting Commerce Minister probably didn’t mention that the country’s economic model currently consists of “international aid, opium, and hoping for the best,” but one assumes that was the elephantor perhaps the spice-laden camelin the room. India’s willingness to discuss investments suggests either extraordinary optimism or a very long-term view of regional stability.
The spice trade expansion talks come at a time when Afghanistan desperately needs economic engagement and India desperately needs to maintain some influence in the region. It’s a marriage of convenience seasoned with cumin, a relationship built on the solid foundation of mutual need rather than mutual trust.
SOURCE: https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/india-afghanistan-discuss-expanding-spice-trade-and-joint-investments-taliban-minister-9684841
SOURCE: Bohiney.com (https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/india-afghanistan-discuss-expanding-spice-trade-and-joint-investments-taliban-minister-9684841)
