New Delhi, Oct 2 (UNI) Afghan Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi is slated to visit New Delhi next week, with the United Nations Security Council approving an exemption to his travel ban for the visit.
According to the UN website, on September 30, “the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1988 (2011) approved an exemption to the travel ban for Amir Khan Motaqi (TAi.026) to visit New Delhi, India, from 9 to 16 October 2025.”
This will be the first ministerial-level visit from the Taliban regime to India since the group took control of Afghanistan on August 15, 2021.
The visit of the Afghan Taliban Foreign Minister to India will be keenly watched in neighbouring Pakistan, which has a growing bitter relationship with Kabul over the Tehreek-e-Taliban’s terror attacks on Pakistani armed forces, which Islamabad has blamed on Kabul for not doing enough to stop the outfit – something which the Afghan regime has not taken kindly to.
The Foreign Minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is to first visit Russia on October 7 to participate in the Moscow Format meeting on Afghanistan, and then travel to New Delhi, India.
The visit of FM Muttaqi comes just over a month after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar spoke to him over the phone, on September 1, to convey that India had delivered 1,000 family tents and food material in the aftermath of a massive quake that hit Afghanistan.
The phone call between EAM Jaishankar and the Afghan Taliban Foreign Minister has been the highest level contact between the two sides, and came after Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri met with the Afghan Taliban Foreign Minister Muttaqi in Dubai in January this year.
While India has not officially recognised the Taliban government, it is continuing with its developmental and humanitarian aid for the Afghan people. India has a “technical” team in place at the Indian Embassy in Kabul.
Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, addressing the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan on September 17, said that India was among the first countries to provide humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan in the aftermath of the quake, delivering 1,000 family tents and 15 tons of food supplies to the affected provinces. India also provided an additional 21 tons of relief materials, including essential medicines, hygiene kits, blankets and generators.
Since the Taliban overtook Kabul in August 2021, India has supplied 50,000 tons of wheat, over 330 tons of medicines and vaccines, 40,000 liters of pesticides and other essential social support items, for Afghans as part of its humanitarian assistance, he told the house.
