First meeting between Indian diplomats and Taliban Foreign Minister in Kabul

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, June 2

In the first meeting between Indian diplomats and the Taliban leadership in Kabul after the Taliban takeover, Afghanistan’s Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi met with MEA Joint Secretary J.P. Singh and his accompanying delegation and discussed Afghanistan-India diplomatic ties, bilateral trade relations and humanitarian aid.

Though this is the first official delegation from India in Kabul since it shut down its embassy and four consulates in Afghanistan after the chaotic US withdrawal last year, the two sides have maintained sporadic contact in third countries such as Qatar and Russia. The Taliban has been professing reasonableness in frequent interviews to the Indian media recently and through it, has offered India to re-open its embassy.

“A team led by the Joint Secretary (PAI), MEA, is currently on a visit to Kabul to oversee the delivery operations of our humanitarian assistance. In this connection, the Indian team will meet the senior members of the Taliban, and hold discussions on India’s humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan,” said a MEA release.

During the visit, the team will also meet representatives of international relief organisations and visit places where Indian programmes or projects are being implemented.

Interestingly, the visit takes place shortly after an India-piloted report in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) said there is presence of anti-India foreign terror groups like Jaish-i-Mohammed (JiM) and Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) in Afghanistan. This was the first public confirmation of these two terror groups in Afghanistan by a multilateral body since the Taliban’s takeover.

But on May 27, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval had spoken in constructive terms at a meeting of regional NSAs in Afghanistan. Doval had advocated enhancing the capability of Afghanistan to counter terrorism and terrorist groups which pose a threat regional peace and security.

Though nurturing security concerns, India has been proactive in meeting the humanitarian concerns of the Afghan people. New Delhi has so far donated about 20,000 tons of wheat, 13 tons of medicines, five lakh Covid vaccine doses and winter clothing. Over 30,000 tonnes of wheat and life saving medicines are in the pipeline. Besides, India gifted 10 lakh doses of India-made vaccines to Tehran to administer to Afghan refugees in Iran. It also assisted UNICEF by supplying almost 60 million doses of polio vaccine and two tons of essential medicines.

Last month, the MEA had said it had no information on when the embassy would re-open.