The calculated decision by India to engage the Taliban regime despite its oppressive stance and the regional confrontation with Pakistan creates a profound strategic and humanitarian dilemma.
This exclusive e-book offers in-depth analysis from seven subject experts, tracing the country’s complex journey: from Afghanistan’s history as a stage for great power rivalries, to its current oppressed state, and the rapidly shifting equations among India, its neighbours, and the wider world.
What’s Inside:
India and Afghanistan: A friend is a friend, not just the “enemy’s enemy”
This essay by Suhasini Haidar, The Hindu’s Diplomatic Affairs Editor, serves as the volume’s introduction, framing India’s complex relationship with Afghanistan.
The Taliban’s new Great Game
Former Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan, Jayant Prasad, examines Afghanistan’s perennial role as a geopolitical battleground, noting that its geography makes it “the turnstile of Asia’s fate”.
Four years after the myth of Kabul’s collapse, what was lost, what was learned, and what is next?
Women’s rights activist and former Afghan leader, Fawzia Koofi, provides an insider’s view on the Doha peace talks and outlines the essential steps required for establishing a democratic future—especially for women.
Reclaiming a shared future: Afghan refugees and India’s role in peace and governance
This chapter by Ashraf Haidari, a former diplomat now working with displaced Afghans, is centered on the moral and strategic dilemma India faces regarding the fate of Afghan refugees and the nature of future Afghan governance.
Afghanistan: Four years after the Taliban takeover
Academic and strategic affairs analyst, Shanthie Mariet D’Souza talks of the humanitarian crisis, economic collapse, and governance failures under the Taliban, as well as the limited effect of international aid.
The Taliban’s advantage in a fracturing global order
Kabir Taneja, Deputy Director and Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, examines how the diversion of world attention to new conflicts has given the Taliban the opportunity to solidify its power and seek global diplomatic legitimacy.
In exile, I keep telling the stories the Taliban want to erase
A powerful and personal account by Zahra Nader, Editor-in-Chief of Zan Times, on witnessing the collapse of the country and her continued commitment to ensuring the voices of Afghan women are not silenced.
How India lost Afghanistan? Can Delhi redeem itself?
This critical essay by Davood Moradian, Director-General of the Afghan Institute of Strategic Studies, examines India’s strategic missteps since 2021 and the damage done to its once-golden partnership with the Afghan people.
Please find the links & content of the e-book on Afghanistan here –
To download a sample of the e-book: https://newsth.live/Afghan_Sample
To buy the e-book from Amazon: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0G39MMJPQ
To read the e-book, subscribe here: https://www.thehindu.com/premium/ebook/
Published – November 25, 2025 11:51 am IST
