The Indian government has said it is watching the events in Afghanistan very closely. The immediate priority is the safety and return of Indian nationals still stuck in Afghanistan.

When asked whether India had established communication with the Taliban, foreign minister S Jaishankar said that it was still early days, as Taliban representatives had just arrived in Kabul.

There are questions about whether close ties between Pakistan's military and Taliban will increase the terrorism threat for India, what happens to the trade relationship between India and Afghanistan which amounts to almost $ 1.5 billion and the future of the Chabahar corridor which goes through India, Iran and Afghanistan.

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In an interview with Parikshit Luthra, Shyam Saran, Former Foreign Secretary said, it is important for India to engage with the Taliban to safeguard its interest in Afghanistan.

"We have been given an impression that some engagement has been maintained with the Taliban particularly the leadership in Doha. I think it is important that we should be engaged with the Taliban because whether we like it or not they are going to be the power centre in Afghanistan. So in terms of safeguarding India's interest, in terms of the tremendous investment that we have made in Afghanistan over the years and also in working out our future policies with respect to Afghanistan, engagement is important while being mindful of the fact that there has been a certain history to our relationship with Taliban."

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Saran said the Taliban is certainly a risk to India but need to see their attitude and policies towards India.

"Taliban is certainly a risk to India. Given the record that we have had in the past with the Taliban dominated Afghanistan, how can we not be mindful of the fact that potentially the return to power by the Taliban could pose a very serious security dilemma for India? However I don't think we should be trapped by the past, we should wait and see how the new dispensation begins to chart out policies for itself, what kind of attitude it displays towards India, towards other neighbours and what kind of policies it follows domestically. All these will have to be taken into consideration before we decide whether or not there is going to be a repeat of the past in terms of targeting India's security interests or whether we are looking at a Taliban which is perhaps somewhat more benign than the past."

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