The image of then External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh – after having just chaperoned three terrorists to freedom – walking hand-in-hand with the Taliban regime’s foreign minister, Mullah Wakil Ahmed Mutawakil, on the runway at Kandahar Airport in late 1999 still haunts.Now, FM P Chidambaram has greeted Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef in Goa.Spanish-born US philosopher George Santayana’s warning is particularly true for India: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”India’s ad hoc, personality-driven diplomacy has stood out since independence for not learning from mistakes and continuing to display naiveté.In 1999, no sooner had the hijacked IC-814 flight landed in Kandahar than a hallucinating Jaswant began briefing the media about the great opportunity it presented to drive a wedge between the Taliban and its sponsor, Pakistan.In truth, he scripted an unparalleled cavein – a foreign minister flying to terrorist territory to hand-deliver three terrorists. Now fast-forward 14 years: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his advisers are feeding the nation their hallucination that engagement with the Taliban can help drive a wedge between that thuggish militia and Pakistan, and thereby aid India’s interests in Afghanistan.It would appear from Singh’s policy machinations that he is seeking to also drive a wedge between Pakistan and its “freedom fighters” in J&K by facilitating the New Delhi talks recently between Pakistan PM’s envoy, Sartaj Aziz, and Kashmiri separatists.Zaeef’s Goa visit, in reality, is part of a broader US-initiated effort to make an American deal with the Taliban internationally acceptable. Washington is seeking a deal with the Taliban as a face-saving way to end its war in Afghanistan and also to safeguard the military bases it plans to keep there after 2014.To bolster that effort, the US has kissed and made up with Pakistan, restoring generous aid to that country and working closely with the Army and ISI chiefs there. This effort has also involved promoting better Indo-Pakistan relations.Washington, for example, strongly supported the Singh-Nawaz Sharif meeting in New York. To justify the planned Faustian bargain with the Taliban – despite the major regional implications it holds – the Obama team is drawing a specious distinction between Al Qaeda and the Taliban and differentiating between “moderate” Taliban amenable to a deal (the good terrorists) and those that rebuff deal-making (the bad terrorists).Zaeef is a “good” terrorist and has been rewarded (like Jaswant Singh’s friend, Mutawakil) with a plush house in Kabul. The US, moreover, has facilitated both the Taliban’s opening of a de facto diplomatic mission in Qatar and the overseas visits of some “good terrorists” to places ranging from Berlin to Tokyo. It has now roped in India to lend legitimacy to its effort.By playing host to Zaeef, India has exposed the lack of consistency and direction in its foreign policy. No sooner had Singh decided to boycott the Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka owing to human-rights concerns there than his government welcomed the Taliban mafioso. Contrary to claims that foreign policy is becoming hostage to provincial satraps, both these decisions actually mesh well with the Congress Party’s vote-bank interests.Lost in all this is the age-old wisdom: He who sups with the devil should have a long spoon.The writer is an expert on strategic affairs