Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
Foreign Minister of Taliban -governed afghanistan preparing to meet him Indian The first high-level diplomatic talks took place on Friday with the counterpart New Delhi Since the group seized power in 2021 after two decades of US military presence.
Amir Khan Muttaki, one of several Afghan Taliban leaders under UN sanctions, including a travel ban and asset freeze, arrived in New Delhi on Thursday after being granted temporary travel exemption by a UN Security Council committee. The visit follows Muttaki’s participation in an international meeting on Afghanistan in Russia on Tuesday which was attended by representatives of China, India. PakistanIn Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Muttaqi’s visit to India highlights the Taliban administration’s efforts to gain international recognition and underlines India’s strategic move to counter its regional rivals, Pakistan and China, which are deeply involved in Afghanistan.
Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal welcomed Muttaqi in a post on X on Thursday, saying: “We look forward to in-depth discussions with him on bilateral relations and regional issues.”
India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri had met Muttaki in Dubai in January. After this there was a telephone conversation between Muttaki and India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. India’s special envoy to Afghanistan visited Kabul in April to discuss political and trade ties.
Experts say India’s decision to engage with the Taliban at a high level reflects its strategic reassessment, designed to avoid the consequences of past non-engagement as well as falling behind its primary strategic rivals.
Praveen Donthi, senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, said Muttaki’s visit is a symbol of India’s practical engagement with the Taliban.
Donthy said, “New Delhi views the world through the prism of its rivalry with China, Pakistan or both. The Taliban’s efforts at a balanced foreign policy, which includes establishing relations with rival countries and groups, reflect New Delhi’s own strategy.”
The visit comes at a time when Afghanistan’s relations with Pakistan are strained, particularly over deportation of refugees and border tensions, and India’s participation is seen as a strategic counterbalance to Pakistan’s influence. India also aims to limit Chinese dominance in Afghanistan through infrastructure and diplomatic presence.
“With Beijing actively engaging with the Taliban, New Delhi would not want its primary strategic rival to have significant influence over Kabul,” Donthy said. He said Pakistan had a similar hold on the Taliban in the past, but due to its deteriorating relations with Islamabad, New Delhi sees an opportunity to “develop modest influence over Kabul and strengthen its position as a regional power”.
When the Taliban captured Kabul four years ago, Indian security analysts feared it would give their arch rival Pakistan an advantage and fuel a long-simmering insurgency in the disputed region of Kashmir, where the militants already hold sway.
But New Delhi maintained frequent contacts with the Taliban despite these concerns and established a technical mission in Kabul focusing on humanitarian assistance and development assistance in 2022, a year after the Taliban returned to power. It continued engagement through backchannel diplomacy and regional forums, following which engagement between the two countries grew this year.
India has long hosted thousands of Afghan nationals, including students and businessmen, many of whom fled the country following the Taliban rule. Afghanistan’s embassy in New Delhi closed permanently in November 2023 but its consulates in Mumbai and Hyderabad continue to operate with limited services.
Gautam Mukhopadhyay, who was India’s ambassador to Kabul between 2010 and 2013, said engagement between India and Afghanistan “may or may not lead to formal legal recognition of the Taliban government, although protocol for the visit indicates the former.”
The Taliban has held high-level talks with several countries and has established some diplomatic relations with countries including China and the United Arab Emirates. In July, Russia became the first country to recognize the Taliban government after removing the group from its list of outlawed organizations.
Still, the Taliban government has remained relatively isolated on the world stage, largely over restrictions on women.
Mukhopadhyay said India should not “take additional steps to legitimize the repressive and unpopular Taliban regime internally” and “preserve some levers to enable positive change internally for the benefit of all Afghans.”