What strategic options can India exercise as a response to the tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan ?

Why the tension is structural. No Afghan government has accepted the Durand Line, and the Taliban's return did not change that. Pakistan's expectation of strategic depth collapsed when Kabul declined to act against the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, producing cross-border strikes, border closures and the mass expulsion of Afghan refugees.

Options for India.

• Calibrated engagement without recognition. India reopened a technical mission in Kabul in 2022; engagement preserves access and intelligence without conferring legitimacy.
• Humanitarian and development leverage. Wheat, medicines and vaccines, and the goodwill of completed projects — the Afghan-India Friendship Dam, the Zaranj-Delaram highway and the parliament building.
• Connectivity that bypasses Pakistan. Chabahar port and the International North-South Transport Corridor make trade with Afghanistan and Central Asia independent of Pakistani transit — the most durable structural response.
• Counter-terrorism vigilance, since anti-India groups have historically used Afghan territory.
• Regional coordination with Iran, Russia and the Central Asian states.

The limits. India has no land access and no capacity to shape events inside Afghanistan. The tension serves Indian interests only passively, by turning Pakistani attention westward. Patient presence, not exploitation, is the correct posture — an Afghanistan in crisis exports instability to the whole region.