Vishal Chandra

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Mr Vishal Chandra studies Afghanistan at Manohar Parrikar IDSA, New Delhi. He joined the Institute in 2003 and is currently a Research Fellow in the South Asia Centre of the Institute. He holds an MPhil degree from the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has travelled widely in Afghanistan and has participated in various national and international academic forums. He has delivered talks & lectures at various training academies and institutes, and has participated in panel discussions and as commentator on Afghanistan affairs on various news channels.

He has several publications to his credit, including a single-authored book and a monograph on Afghanistan, and three edited books on South Asia. He has contributed to MP-IDSA flagship publications, including Strategic Analysis (Routledge) and Asian Strategic Review. His most recent key publication is: Afghans in Need: Positing India’s Continued Engagement with Afghanistan (MP-IDSA Monograph, October 2024).

Mr Chandra is the author of The Unfinished War in Afghanistan: 2001–2014 (IDSA, Pentagon Press, New Delhi, 2015). He is also the editor of India and South Asia: Exploring Regional Perceptions (Pentagon Press, 2015) and India’s Neighbourhood: The Armies of South Asia (Pentagon Press, 2013), and the co-editor of India’s Neighbourhood: Challenges Ahead (IDSA, Rubicon Publishers, Delhi, 2008).

Reviews on his book on Afghanistan have been published in The Journal of Slavic Military Studies (formerly The Journal of Soviet Military Studies, Taylor & Francis), Indian Foreign Affairs Journal (a quarterly of the Association of Indian Diplomats), The Book ReviewIndia Today / Mail TodayThe Pioneer and New Straits Times (Kuala Lumpur). The book was reported by Afghanistan’s leading national dailies and news agencies, including Pajhwok Afghan NewsAfghanistan Times and Daily Outlook Afghanistan.Reports about the book in Hindi were published by Amar Ujala and Nai Dunia.An abridged Farsi translation of the book was later brought out by a Kabul-based Afghan publisher.

Along his research, Mr Chandra also had a decade long editorial stint with the Institute’s website from 2011 to 2022, including editor website from 2019 to 2022.


Research Fellow

Publication

Afghanistan Under Taliban

  • Publisher: Pentagon Press
The edited volume comprises 16 chapters contributed by Afghan, Central Asian, Iranian, Russian, Western, and Indian scholars and analysts. The chapters not only dwell on country perspectives but also key issues of concern to the people of Afghanistan and the wider region. It includes terrorism, transnational crime, drug production and distribution, the governance system and the state of education in Afghanistan. The contributions in the volume paint an unflattering view of the ground reality in Afghanistan, and a connecting thread of pessimism runs through various analyses.
  • ISBN: 978-81-988370-8-0,
  • Price: ₹ 1295/-
  • E-copy available

Taliban’s Amnesty: An Assessment

The Taliban's unwritten and ambiguous 'general amnesty' neither implies Tpolitical integration nor national reconciliation. It's about total control, and about who gets to stay and who gets to come back, and on what terms. In the absence of any credible political opposition, and with more and more Afghans being deported or forced to return to the country, including the exiled members of the previous regime, the Taliban's Contact Commission will remain in business in the foreseeable future. However, reports of violation of 'general amnesty' by the Taliban members, particularly in the case of mid and low ranking former military personnel, have exposed the limitations to the implementation of the amnesty decree across the country.

Taliban’s “Contact Commission”: Three Years Later

Looking beyond high optics associated with the return (often the deportation) of members of the former Afghan Republic to the country, the Contact Commission set up by the Taliban regime in 2022 comes across as a strategic move to present itself as a conciliatory and legitimate state entity on one hand and undercut the support base of the fragmented exiled political opposition on the other. This is best manifest in the fact that the Taliban has opened a pathway for exiled political opposition and former civil and military personnel to return to the country but without yielding any political space or making any provision to integrate the returnees into its governing structures. The commission’s efforts are stymied by violations of the ‘general amnesty’ announced for members of the former regime, lack of employment avenues for the educated non-Taliban workforce, and the ban on higher education for girls and work opportunities for women. In such a scenario, the commission cannot bridge the divide between the regime and the exiled or returnee Afghans, unless the regime itself acts as a bridge connecting diverse ethnicities and identities that make up the Afghan Nation.

Afghans in Need: Positing India’s Continued Engagement With Afghanistan

With the leaders of the Taliban regime making a concerted effort to reach out to India, and India making it clear that it will remain committed to the people of Afghanistan, the ground appears to have been laid for engagement based on a working understanding on mutual “non-interference” and “non-threat”. However, the challenge lies in building trust between the two sides.

Pakistan opposes ‘pre-conditions’ for Kabul-Taliban talks

The Quadrilateral Coordination Committee or Group comprising Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States held its first round of meeting in Islamabad on 11th January. The four-nation committee has been formed to help revive and coordinate talks between representatives of the Afghan Government and the Pakistan-based Taliban leadership. Pakistani delegation was led by its Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry. The United States was represented by its Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard G. Olson and the Chinese Government by its Special Envoy for Afghanistan Deng Xijun.
This article was originally published in AIR World Service.

Where is Afghanistan Headed

Associate Fellow, IDSA, Mr Vishal Chandra’s chapter ‘Where is Afghanistan Headed?’ was published in the edited volume The Political Future of Afghanistan: Issues and Perspectives by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies (MAKAIAS), Kolkata, India.

Abstract of Chapter

The notably inclusive post-Taliban political system may not all together wither away, but retaining its fundamental character will certainly be far more difficult in years to come. The worrying aspect is lack of sustainable consensus on an alternative but inclusive political framework that could help restore internal socio-political balance of power. This basically means Afghanistan would remain in an extended state of transition.

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India and South Asia: Exploring Regional Perceptions

  • Publisher: Pentagon Press

Perceptions play a very significant role in South Asian politics. They have largely shaped and influenced state policies and politics among the South Asian countries, especially in relation to India, over the years. State policies have at times been hostage to negative or adversarial perceptions, well-entrenched in the popular psyche. The perception formation in South Asia is an extremely dynamic process and has evolved differently in different countries. Perceptions are not static and often change with the shift in domestic as well as regional and global politics.

  • ISBN 978-81-8274-812-5,
  • Price: ₹ 995/-
  • E-copy available