Taliban foreign minister to visit India next week

Afghanistan foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi is slated to travel to New Delhi next week, official sources said here on Thursday.

The visit is tentatively scheduled for October 9-10 and could mark the first high-level travel by a Taliban leader to India since 2021. As per the Afghan media, Muttaqi may first travel to Moscow on October 6 to attend the seventh round of the “Moscow Format” talks at the invitation of Russian officials. After that he will travel to India. While the official confirmation is awaited, the sources said India and Afghanistan were working to firm up the agenda and logistics for Muttaqi’s visit.

The visit will mark a milestone in the India-Taliban diplomacy at a time of shifting dynamics in South Asia.

Muttaqi has long been under a United Nations Security Council (UNSC)-imposed travel ban as part of sanctions on senior Taliban leaders. Earlier efforts to arrange his visit were derailed when a waiver was not granted, delaying a planned August trip.

Oct 9-10 likely dates

The visit is tentatively scheduled for October 9-10 and will mark a milestone in the India-Taliban diplomacy at a time of shifting dynamics in South Asia

However, this time, the UNSC has approved a temporary travel ban exemption for Muttaqi, allowing him to visit New Delhi. “On September 30, the Security Council Committee, established pursuant to resolution 1988 (2011), approved an exemption to the travel ban for Muttaqi to visit New Delhi from October 9 to 16,” the UNSC statement read.

India, which has not formally recognised the Taliban regime, has maintained communication and aid ties via a limited presence in Kabul. Delhi’s engagement in recent years has included reopening its embassy in Kabul as a technical mission and providing humanitarian assistance.

In a sign of evolving ties, earlier in January, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri met Muttaqi in Dubai for high-level talks, the first since the Taliban took power in 2021.

The two sides had discussed expanded cooperation, including trade links via Iran’s Chabahar port for supporting trade and commercial activities, including for the purpose of humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan.