Taliban Foreign Minister to visit India next week

NEW DELHI: Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi is set to visit India next week for talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, following a waiver to a UN Security Council travel ban, officials familiar with the matter said on Thursday. This will be the first visit by a senior Taliban leader since the group took power in Afghanistan after the fall of the Ashraf Ghani government in August 2021.

Muttaqi is expected to arrive in New Delhi on October 10. The exemption was granted by the UN Security Council’s 1988 sanctions committee on September 30, allowing him to travel from October 9 to 16. The committee monitors sanctions imposed on the Taliban and its leaders. Attempts to secure a waiver in September had failed amid reported opposition from the United States and Pakistan, currently a non-permanent Security Council member.

Officials indicated that the visit aims to enhance working relations between India and the Taliban without implying formal recognition of the Kabul regime. “This represents a via media for strengthening the working relationship with the Taliban without getting into technical issues,” one source said.

During the visit, the Taliban are expected to request the posting of additional diplomats at the Afghan embassy in New Delhi and consulates in Mumbai and Hyderabad. The visit comes amid continuing strains between the Taliban and Pakistan and follows criticism of the regime’s nationwide internet blackout, attributed to fibre-optic cable replacement.

India has maintained a working relationship with the Taliban, citing longstanding ties with the Afghan people. New Delhi re-established a diplomatic presence in Kabul in June 2022 and continues to cooperate on counter-terrorism matters, including condemning the April Pahalgam attack by The Resistance Front.

In May, Jaishankar welcomed the Taliban’s rejection of reports suggesting attempts to create distrust between India and Afghanistan. Muttaqi described India as “a key regional country” and reaffirmed Afghanistan’s commitment to a balanced foreign policy and constructive international relations.