If the news reports are true, India's willingness to talk to the Taliban would represent a seismic shift in strategy for New Delhi and underlines the concern that the Congress-led government has over Pakistan's influence in any Afghan end game.
India has always publicly opposed any attempts at talks by the Western powers with the Taliban to bring them into any stability plan for Afghanistan -- chiding the idea there was such a thing as a "soft side" to the insurgents.
But an Indian Express report said New Delhi was now seeking out a "second generation" of Pashtun leaders like Nangarhar Governor Gul Agha Sherzai.
It also comes with a report that Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid saying that the group was not in direct conflict with India.
New Delhi has also been increasingly worried about Pakistan's growing closeness with Washington, especially the meeting in Washington this month in which Pakistan reportedly pressured the United States to rein in Indian influence in Afghanistan.
