The Taliban-ruled Afghanistan’s foreign minister, Aamir Khan Muttaqi, is all set to visit India as the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has allowed him to travel to New Delhi from October 9–16.
The approval by the UNSC committee was granted on September 13 and made official on Thursday. The committee, currently chaired by non-permanent member Pakistan, had to permit the travel as Muttaqi is on the list of sanctioned individuals applicable to Taliban leaders under UNSC Resolution 1988 (2011). According to this, he requires approval to travel across the world.
This marks the first-ever visit by the Taliban foreign minister to New Delhi. No official statement has been issued yet by India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) regarding the visit. A similar plan was being considered in September but could not take place as the UNSC committee did not grant approval. Earlier this year, Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in May, and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri in January, met Muttaqi in Dubai.
Jaishankar’s conversation with Muttaqi took place days after India and Pakistan agreed to halt military strikes in the wake of Operation Sidhu, conducted after the Pahalgam terror attack — an attack that Kabul strongly condemned.
In his conversation, Jaishankar underlined India’s traditional friendship with the Afghan people and its support for their developmental goals. Calling it a “good conversation,” Jaishankar said: “Deeply appreciate his condemnation of the Pahalgam terrorist attack, welcomed his firm rejection of the recent attempt to create mistrust between India and Afghanistan through false and baseless reports… Underlined our traditional friendship with the Afghan people and continuing support for their development needs, discussed ways and means of taking cooperation forward.”
This marked the first political-level contact and conversation with the Taliban since it captured power in Kabul in August 2021. Before this, External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh was in touch with Taliban foreign minister Wakil Ahmed Muttawaki in 1999–2000, following the hijacking of Indian Airlines flight IC-814 to Kandahar in December 1999.
Despite India not recognising Taliban-ruled Afghanistan as a state, it has continued to provide humanitarian aid and developmental assistance.