7 months ago
3
Four years aft the Taliban took complaint of Afghanistan successful a convulsive movement, Amir Khan Muttaqi, the ‘Foreign Minister’ of the Taliban administration, volition question to India adjacent week, officials of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said connected Thursday (October 2, 2025). The sojourn is expected to beryllium focused connected developmental assistance to Afghanistan, which has been struggling with scarcity of indispensable medicines and cultivation products ever since the Taliban took implicit Kabul connected August 15, 2021, the officials further said.
The sojourn has been nether information for immoderate time, and Mr. Muttaqi could not travel earlier arsenic India has been delicate to the information that he, similar respective different Taliban leaders, continues to beryllium placed nether planetary sanctions due to the fact that of the convulsive conflict that the Taliban carried retired against the U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces successful Afghanistan starting successful the wintertime of 2001, the sources said.
A large hurdle successful normalising diplomatic relations with the Taliban has been the outfit’s inflexible presumption connected shutting entree to acquisition and employment for the women of Afghanistan, and different quality rights issues, including the attraction of prisoners. Indian officials indicated that the “temporary exemption” that was issued by the UN Security Council’s sanctions committee connected September 30 yet firmed up the plans for Mr. Muttaqi’s India visit.
Mr. Muttaqi is expected get present connected October 10, the sources said.
India has not granted de jure (by right) designation to the Taliban authorities successful Kabul though Mr. Muttaqi has been gathering a fig of Indian officials implicit the past years. In January, helium met Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri successful Dubai. Mr. Misri was the highest-ranking Indian authoritative to scope retired to the Taliban erstwhile the 2 sides discussed ways to broaden practice done the Iranian larboard of Chabahar.
One of the issues that whitethorn travel up during Mr. Muttaqi’s sojourn is apt to beryllium the continued usage of the Chabahar port, particularly arsenic the United States has ended the 2018 carve-out for India, which allowed New Delhi to usage the strategically important Iranian larboard contempt the wide U.S. sanctions against Iran. U.S. President Donald Trump has indicated that helium wants the Bagram aerial basal to revert to the U.S. forces, but the Taliban has rejected that idea.
The sojourn to New Delhi volition beryllium intimately watched crossed India’s neighbourhood arsenic good arsenic beyond arsenic it comes aft Mr. Muttaqi hosted China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar successful Kabul for the sixth China-Pakistan-Afghanistan Trilateral Dialogue connected August 20. Earlier successful May, Mr. Muttaqi had travelled to Bejing to enactment successful the 5th circular of trilateral dialog with Pakistan and China.
China has been urging the Taliban medication to guarantee greater Chinese entree to Afghan minerals, and has asked Kabul to join the expanded CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor).
India was 1 of the respective countries that evacuated their diplomats from the Afghan superior erstwhile the Taliban took complaint successful a subject blitzkrieg connected August 15, 2021. The evacuation process, named Operation Devi Shakti, airlifted astir 669 radical from August to December 2021. A important fig of those evacuated were portion of the number Sikh and Hindu communities, and governmental activists of Afghanistan who came nether onslaught and faced arson arsenic the information concern took a downturn with assorted groups competing for power. On June 18, 2022, a panic onslaught was carried out by the ISIS connected a gurdwara successful Kabul, which claimed respective lives, including that of respective Afghan information personnel.
At the aforesaid time, responding to the prevailing concern connected the ground, India began sending humanitarian assistance, particularly medicines for women and children, to the Indira Gandhi Child Health Hospital successful Kabul, from December 2021. The consignments were delivered to World Health Organization officials and the infirmary authorities.
Soon thereafter, India announced that its “historical and civilisational narration with the Afghan people” would continue. The MEA announced that “a method team” had been sent to Kabul connected June 23, 2022 to “closely show and coordinate the efforts of assorted stakeholders for humanitarian assistance and successful continuation of our engagement with the Afghan people”.
The argumentation of humanitarian assistance portion maintaining an ambiguous diplomatic narration continued till astir recently, erstwhile India flew alleviation materials to Afghanistan aft the August 31 earthquake successful the eastbound portion of the country. Earlier, successful November 2024, New Delhi showed greater willingness to broaden engagement with the Taliban erstwhile it accepted a Taliban-approved nominee, Ikramuddin Kamil, for the station of ‘Acting Consul General’ successful Mumbai. The Taliban administration has diplomatic relations with respective countries, including Pakistan, Russia, Iran, the UAE, Qatar, China, and the Central Asian states.
