Taliban leaders in Afghanistan host rare official talks with India

Taliban leaders in Afghanistan: Afghanistan's Taliban government has held talks with India on improving bilateral ties and seeking increased humanitarian assistance for the impoverished country, officials reported Thursday.

Jitender Pal Singh, the Indian foreign ministry’s point-person for Afghanistan, led his delegation’s meetings with Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and a rare interaction with Defense Minister Mohammad Yaqoob, among others, during the November 4-5 visit to Kabul.

“Yes, this was the first meeting with” Yaqoob, Indian media quoted Randhir Jaiswal, the foreign ministry spokesperson, as telling a weekly news conference in New Delhi on Thursday.

Jaiswal stated that “humanitarian assistance from India was the centerpiece of the meetings of JP Singh with Afghan officials.” He added that the Indian delegation also met with representatives of the United Nations agencies in Kabul.

The spokesperson discussed the visit a day after Yaqoob’s office publicly shared details of his meeting with the visiting Indian delegation. It read that “both sides declared their common desire to enlarge the bilateral relations … and expressed their interest in further reinforcing the interactions between Afghanistan and India.”

Both sides reported that the discussions in Kabul also focused on how the Afghan business community could access the India-operated Chabahar port in Iran, which borders landlocked Afghanistan, to increase bilateral trade.

On Thursday, Muttaqi’s office released details of his talks with Singh, saying the Taliban chief diplomat emphasized the need to improve bilateral political and economic relations and sought better visa facilitation for Afghan businessmen to help boost trade ties with India.

The Taliban statement quoted Singh as describing New Delhi’s relations with Kabul as historic and “important for his country.” He promised to enhance Indian visa facilities for Afghans, it added.

The de facto Afghan leaders swept back to power in August 2021, when the United States and NATO troops left the country after almost two decades of war with the then-insurgent Taliban.

The Taliban takeover prompted New Delhi and Western countries to close their embassies in Kabul and mostly moved their diplomatic missions to Qatar.

No country has formally recognized the Taliban as the legitimate ruler of Afghanistan, but several neighboring and regional countries, including China, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, and Qatar, have retained their embassies. India recently reopened its diplomatic mission in Kabul, manned by low-level diplomats.

The International community has refused to recognize the Taliban regime over human rights violations, particularly its restrictions on Afghan women’s access to work and education.

India’s engagement with the de facto authorities in Afghanistan is expected to raise apprehensions in neighboring Pakistan, as noted by analysts.

Kabul’s ties with Islamabad lately have been strained over allegations that the Taliban harbor and support fugitive anti-Pakistan militants responsible for deadly “terrorist” attacks against Pakistani civilians and security forces.

The Pakistani military reported a fresh militant attack Thursday in a district on the Afghan border, saying the ensuing clashes killed four soldiers and five assailants.

Taliban officials have denied Islamabad’s allegations, stating that no foreign militants are present in Afghanistan, and no one is allowed to use their territory to threaten neighboring countries.

Pakistan officially recognized the first Taliban government in Kabul in the 1990s. It allegedly harbored and supported Taliban leaders, who directed years of insurgent attacks against U.S.-led international forces in Afghanistan after being dislodged from power in late 2001. VOA/SP