Ambassador Haidari Urges India to Champion Afghan Refugees and Reclaim Its Democratic Role in Afghanistan

By Staff Writer

Washington, D.C. – In a new book chapter titled “Reclaiming a shared future: Afghan refugees and India’s role in peace and governance”, published in The Taliban in Afghanistan: Changing Attitudes of India and the World, Ambassador Ashraf Haidari, President and Founder of Displaced International, calls on India to move beyond narrow, security-driven engagement with the Taliban and instead lead a renewed push for inclusive, democratic governance in Afghanistan.

Haidari’s chapter builds on his long-standing body of work on displacement and protection, including his Just Security essay, “The World Should Protect Afghan Refugees Fleeing the Taliban’s Oppression”, his analysis of “The Plight of Afghan Refugees” in The Diplomat, and his reflection on “Afghanistan’s Forgotten Humanitarian Crisis”. Writing as a former senior Afghan diplomat and long-time partner of India, he argues that Afghan refugees across the globe are united by a single aspiration: to return to an Afghanistan that restores the democratic gains of the past two decades.

He recalls how, between 2001 and 2021, Afghans—especially women, youth, and minorities—benefited from expanded access to education, greater civil liberties, and gradually consolidating elected institutions, supported in no small part by India’s extensive development and diplomatic engagement. These themes echo his broader governance analysis in Diplomatic Courier’s “Confronting the Governance Crisis in Taliban–Controlled Afghanistan”, where he stresses that inclusive institutions and accountable leadership are indispensable for any durable peace.

That fragile progress, he notes, was shattered by the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021. Their harsh rule—marked by sweeping restrictions on women and girls, repression of minorities, and persecution of former officials—has driven one of the world’s most acute displacement crises. Millions of Afghans now live as refugees and asylum seekers, while millions more are displaced inside Afghanistan, as reflected in UNHCR’s Afghanistan country page and its Afghanistan emergency and data portals.

Haidari is sharply critical of the role of regional powers whose policies, he argues, have both destabilized Afghanistan and externalized its human cost. Pakistan’s long-standing pursuit of “strategic depth” against India and elements of Iran’s hedging strategy helped empower the Taliban, even as both countries now host large Afghan refugee populations facing uncertainty, discrimination, and, in some cases, deportation or forced return. Recent analysis of Afghan refugees in Iran and mounting concerns over coercive returns from Pakistan and Iran underscore the risks he highlights.

Against this backdrop, Haidari devotes significant attention to the depth of Afghanistan–India ties. He highlights India’s post-2001 record as Afghanistan’s largest regional donor, financing projects such as the Afghan Parliament building, the Salma Dam, and major health, education, and infrastructure initiatives. Scholarship programs, people-to-people exchanges, and the 2011 Strategic Partnership Agreement made India a central partner in building a pluralistic, democratic Afghan state.

However, he warns that India’s recent diplomatic outreach to the Taliban—if not balanced by robust, visible engagement with Afghan civil society and refugee communities—risks eroding its historic moral standing among Afghans. A policy that appears to normalize Taliban rule without securing meaningful commitments on rights and inclusion, he argues, is neither sustainable nor strategically beneficial for New Delhi’s long-term interests or its global image as the world’s largest democracy. That warning is consistent with his broader advocacy through Displaced Voices, Displaced International’s platform for analysis and storytelling on forced displacement.

Afghan refugees, including the roughly 15,000–20,000 currently living in India and far larger numbers in Pakistan, Iran, and beyond, expect New Delhi to do more than quietly manage ties with the de facto authorities in Kabul. According to Haidari, they look to India to:

• Advocate for a UN-led peace process and an inclusive political settlement that brings all Afghan stakeholders to the table.
• Prioritize the protection of women, ethnic and religious minorities, and former officials in any dialogue with the Taliban, in line with his repeated emphasis on human security and gender equality across his public writing and interviews featured on Displaced Voices.
• Use its diplomatic weight in forums such as the UN, SAARC, the SCO, BRICS, and the Quad to keep Afghanistan’s crisis on the international agenda and resist policies that entrench repression and fuel further displacement.

Haidari frames this moment as both a moral test and a strategic opportunity for India. By championing Afghan refugees and aligning its Afghanistan policy with its own democratic values, India can help build a regional consensus around non-interference, counterterrorism, and stabilization—while reinforcing its reputation as a responsible, rights-respecting power. These ideas are elaborated in a recent Displaced International news feature summarizing his proposed roadmap to end Afghanistan’s forced displacement crisis.

The chapter ultimately poses a clear choice for New Delhi: continue down the path of a narrow, security-first relationship with a repressive regime, or reclaim its role as a principled advocate of pluralism, accountable governance, and the rights of Afghan refugees and citizens alike. For millions of displaced Afghans, Haidari concludes, the hope of returning home rests on the restoration of an inclusive and legitimate Afghan state—and India’s decisions in the coming years will play a decisive role in whether that hope endures.