NEW DELHI: Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi began an official visit to India on Thursday, the first by a senior Afghan leader since 2021.
Like all other countries, except for Russia, India does not officially recognize Afghanistan’s Taliban administration, which took over the country four years ago, when its Western-backed regime collapsed, and US-led troops withdrew after two decades of military occupation.
Most of the Taliban leaders, including Muttaqi, have been sanctioned by the UN, but the Security Council said last month that he was granted “an exemption to the travel ban” to visit New Delhi from Oct. 9 to 16.
He was offered a “warm welcome” by Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, who said in a statement that the ministry looked forward to “engaging discussions with him on bilateral relations and regional issues.”
Muttaqi, who met with India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri in Dubai in January, is expected to hold talks with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.
“It is scheduled that the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan will hold discussions with his Indian counterpart and other officials on various political, economic, and trade issues, as well as on strengthening relations between Afghanistan and the region,” Hafiz Zia Ahamad, spokesperson of the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in an X post.
While India’s engagement with the Taliban administration has grown in recent months — especially as Afghanistan’s ties with India’s archrival neighbor Pakistan have soured — Prof. Harsh V. Pant, vice president of Delhi-based think tank Observer Research Foundation, told Arab News that it did not signal imminent recognition of the Taliban government.
“Engagement is, of course, necessary with all of India’s neighbors, so India will be engaging. And I think the Taliban government has been signaling that it remains committed to protecting Indian interests,” Pant said.
“They have been at loggerheads with Pakistan in asserting their own identity and their own strategic autonomy. So, I think there, there is going to be much that is going to be convergent, but still there are divergences which are huge, and engagement should no longer be seen as any kind of endorsement of the regime, or any swift move towards recognition.”
The Afghan foreign minister’s visit follows his trip to Russia for the Moscow Format of Consultations on Afghanistan earlier this week.
Besides Russia and Afghanistan, the forum includes India, Pakistan, China, Iran and Central Asian nations, which on Tuesday issued a joint statement voicing opposition to any foreign military infrastructure in Afghanistan.
The statement came as US President Donald Trump has been pressing to regain control of the Bagram airbase near Kabul.
