India to train Taliban diplomat, CPI(M) flays Modi govt

In a first, Taliban authorities in Afghanistan will soon attend a four-day online course organised by the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Kozhikode.

The course, ‘Immersion with Indian Thoughts’ will be focused on teaching Taliban about India and will witness the participation of representatives such as entrepreneurs from several other countries.

As per reports, the training course is being organised under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) — the leading capacity building platform of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

Instituted in 1964 under the external affairs ministry, ITEC is one of the oldest institutionalised arrangements for international capacity-building. It has trained more than 200,000 civilian and defence officials from more than 160 countries.

The IIM Kozhikode said that participants/countries for ITEC are selected by MEA and the institute has no role whatsoever in selection of these candidates nor the knowledge of their political affiliations.

According to the ITEC, a course open to foreign delegates from across the world and not just Afghanistan, aims to give participants an opportunity to learn about India’s economic environment, regulatory ecosystem, social and historical backdrop, cultural heritage, legal and environmental landscape, consumer mind-sets and business risks.

Meanwhile, the CPI(M) in Kerala slammed the BJP-led Centre over the IIM-Kozhikode's course training to the Taliban government's foreign ministry staff members, and said this showed their close ties with the Sangh Parivar.

"This clearly shows the tie-up between the Sangh Parivar forces in the country and the Taliban and this is being undertaken through this online course," said CPI(M) state secretary M.V. Govindan.

The Indian government has in the past trained Afghan diplomats, back when a democratic government was in power in Kabul. In 2010, the Indian government was providing over 600 annual ITEC training scholarships for Afghan public servants.