Old rivalries between India and Pakistan are driving a shift in regional ties, with New Delhi courting Afghanistan's Taliban while Islamabad befriends the new leaders of post-revolutionary Bangladesh.
"You can't have snakes in your backyard and expect them to only bite your neighbours," Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal told reporters in dismissing the allegations.
"India has been pursuing this path quite consistently for quite some time," international relations professor Hassan Abbas of the National Defense University in Washington told AFP.
"They don't want the Taliban to give space to any group that is going to ultimately be a bigger threat to India," he said, adding that the prospect of "annoying Pakistan" was also appealing for New Delhi.
India's top career diplomat, Vikram Misri, met with Taliban foreign minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi in Dubai in January.
Jaiswal said it was agreed at the meeting to "promote the use" of India's $370 million development of Iran's Chabahar container port "for supporting trade and commercial activities" to landlocked Afghanistan.
At the same time, old enemies Pakistan and Bangladesh now speak of "friendly" ties. Long-time Bangladeshi premier Sheikh Hasina was ousted in an August 2024 revolution, fleeing by helicopter to her old ally India, where she has defied Dhaka's extradition requests to face charges including mass murder.
Relations between India and Bangladesh's new government have been frosty since then, allowing Islamabad and Dhaka to slowly rebuild ties.
The first cargo ship in decades to sail directly from Pakistan to Bangladesh successfully unloaded its containers in the port of Chittagong in November.
Bangladesh's interim leader Muhammad Yunus also met with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in December, saying he had "agreed to strengthen relations".
Top Bangladeshi army commanders later visited Pakistan, discussing training programmes and praising the "friendly relationship" between the nations.
Dhaka University professor Amena Mohsin told AFP that the sudden closeness reflected one of the oldest dictums in international diplomacy. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend," she said.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ