India’s team led by a senior official from the Ministry of External Affairs met Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Mottaqi
India’s officials met with the Taliban in Afghanistan for the first time on Thursday since the group took control of the country last year. Although India has no formal diplomatic relations with the Taliban government, its envoys have previously met with Taliban representatives in Doha, Qatar’s capital, where they have an office.
According to MEA spokesman Arindam Bagchi, the visit by Indian officials to Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, on Thursday was primarily to oversee the delivery of aid. India has stated that it will follow the United Nations’ lead in deciding whether to recognize the Taliban government.
Acting Afghan Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi welcomed the Indian delegation in Kabul, calling it a “good start in bilateral relations.” According to Muttaqi’s spokesperson, Abdul Qahar Balkhi, the meeting focused on bilateral relations, trade, and aid. J.P. Singh, a secretary in the External Affairs Ministry, led the Indian delegation.
Muttaqi thanked India for its humanitarian and medical assistance to Afghanistan. He also emphasized upon the importance of India’s resumption of projects, diplomatic presence in Afghanistan. And also provision of consular services to Afghans, particularly Afghan students and medical patients, according to Balkhi.
According to the Afghan spokesperson, Indian officials stated that they want to maintain positive ties with Afghanistan.
He said in a statement that the aid had been delivered to the Indira Gandhi Children’s Hospital in Kabul. It was to United Nations agencies such as the World Health Organization and the World Food Program. India also assured that more medicines and food were on their way.
India: Largest provider of development aid to Afghanistan
Before the Taliban took control, India provided training and military equipment to Afghan security forces. But India had no troops on the ground. It was also the largest provider of development aid to Afghanistan in the region.
“In response to the humanitarian needs of the Afghan people, India decided to extend humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people. In this endeavor, we have already dispatched several shipments of humanitarian assistance. It consists of 20,000 MTs of wheat, 13 tons of medicines, 500,000 doses of Covid vaccine and winter clothing. These consignments were handed over to the India Gandhi Children Hospital, Kabul and UN specialized agencies including WHO and WFP. Furthermore, India is in the process of shipping more medical assistance and food grains to Afghanistan,” the MEA said.
“In continuation with our developmental partnership with Afghan brethren, we have gifted one million doses of India-made COVAX in to Iran to administer to Afghan refugees in Iran. We have also assisted UNICEF by supplying almost 60 million doses of polio vaccine and two tons of essential medicines”. India’s development and humanitarian assistance has received widespread appreciation across the entire spectrum of Afghan society,” the MEA said.
UN security report on Afghanistan:
The visit by Indian delegation comes at a time when according to a new UN report, Pakistan-based terror groups Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) still have hundreds of fighters in Afghanistan, with at least 11 training camps in Kunar and Nangarhar provinces.
According to the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team’s 13th report, JeM, a Deobandi group ideologically closer to the Taliban, “maintains eight training camps in Nangarhar, three of which are directly under Taliban control.”
In his capacity as Chair of the Taliban Sanctions Committee, also known as the 1988 Sanctions Committee. India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador T.S. Tirumurti, forwarded the report to be “brought to the attention of the members of the Security Council and issued as a document of the Council.” According to the report, Jaish-e-Mohammed, led by Masood Azhar, is ideologically similar to the Taliban. Qari Ramazan has been appointed as the new leader of JeM in Afghanistan.
