High level MEA delegation meets Taliban Foreign Minister for first time

An Indian delegation led by Joint Secretary (Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran) MEA JP Singh on Thursday met Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Kabul to discuss several issues including New Delhi’s humanitarian assistance in what was the first high level meeting between the Taliban regime and Indian government.

ET has learnt that the two sides discussed wide-ranging issues including regional developments and political issues. India has been regularly supplying humanitarian assistance to people of Afghanistan.

New Delhi keeps a close watch on any use of Afghan territory to launch cross-border terror activities in India.


In January Muttaqi had held a meeting of diplomats from 11 neighbouring and regional countries, including India, and proposed establishing a “region-centric narrative aimed at developing regional cooperation for a positive and constructive engagement between Afghanistan and regional countries.”

The diplomats of India, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Russia, China, Iran, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Indonesia and Kyrgyzstan took part in the January meeting. Since June 2022, India has stationed a technical team, with the stated objective of delivering humanitarian aid and support to Afghanistan.

Muttaqi had told the participants in February meeting that “regional cooperation could be focused on exploring region-centric and engagement pathways based on common regional benefits; creating a region-centric narrative for positive and constructive engagement with the Afghan government to tackle existing and potential threats in the region; exerting efforts directed at soft connectivity and hard connectivity that would lead to regional economic development benefitting peoples; unanimity in calling for the removal of unilateral sanctions on the region and on Afghanistan in particular; and respecting one another’s choices of indigenous and traditional development models and governance methods.