New Delhi, Aug 25: Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan have anticipated but the timeline was quicker than expected, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat said today.

Speaking at a discussion on “The India-US Partnership: Securing the 21st Century, organised by the Observers Research Foundation, he also said India was already preparing a “contingency plan”.

“Everything that happened is something that was anticipated, only the timeline has changed,” General Rawat said.

“We were anticipating the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. We were concerned about how terrorist activities from Afghanistan could overflow into India. Our contingency plans were ongoing and we have prepared for that…” he said.

“The timeline has certainly surprised us because we were anticipating this happening a couple of months down the line”.

He also said that the Taliban was the same as it was 20 years ago.

“It is the same Taliban that was 20 years ago, the news reports and reports from ex-pats are all telling us this is the same Taliban. All that has happened is that its partners have changed. This is the same Taliban with new partners,” he said.

Taliban takeover of Afghanistan on August 15 shocked the world. Concerns have been raised over its impact on the terror situation in India, specially Jammu, and Kashmir. (UNI)