New Delhi

India will be part of of the Afghan peace deal that will be signed today between the US and the Taliban later today.

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Earlier Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote a congratulatory letter to newly elected Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and said India was committed to a principled position of support for an inclusive Afghan-led, Afghan-owned & Afghan controlled peace & reconciliation process. 

In November 2018, India sent two retired diplomats -- former envoy to Kabul Kumar Sinha and former high commissioner to Pakistan TCA Raghavan -- to the Afghan peace conference. The duo represented New Delhi at the Moscow talks but with a disclaimer that they were representing on 'non-official' level.

That was a major departure from India's gameplan in the war-torn country.

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It was the first time India shared a table with the Taliban and now India has been officially invited to the signing of the peace deal.

India has always refused to engage or negotiate with the Taliban. In the past, for strategic purposes, India sided with other forces.

In the 1980s India formed a failed alliance with the Afghan communists alongside the Soviet Union. A similarly futile effort in the 1990s saw it backing the so-called northern alliance with the support from Iran and Russia.

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The northern alliance fought a defensive war against the Taliban government-backed by Pakistan, which ended with the US invasion and its dissolution.

Since 2001, under the security umbrella of US-led NATO forces, India has built a sizeable developmental and considerable intelligence footprint.

Today, India values its role as a constructive regional player helping Afghanistan in political, military and economic terms.

India has pumped in more than $2 billion in aid and infrastructural development and has reopened consulates across the country. While it does not have the financial resources like the US to support state-building, India needs to protect its presence and interests.

And for that, it has to deal with the Taliban.

India is at a crossroads in its foreign policy strategy in Afghanistan.

That which was considered mainstream has now been relegated to the sidelines.

And that which was on the fringes is now set to become a mainstay.