Afghanistan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi to visit India next week

New Delhi: In a significant development, Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi is set to visit India next week, as Delhi and Kabul look to focus on development partnership. Muttaqi has been the Foreign Minister of Afghanistan since the Taliban took over control of Afghanistan in August 2021 and the collapse of the previous Afghan republic. His visit to India comes after he was granted travel exemption by the United Nations Security Council.

To travel internationally, he required a waiver from the UN’s 1988 Sanctions Committee. He is expected to be in Delhi from 9th to 10th October, a visit that is also clubbed with his Russia visit for Moscow format talks on Afghanistan. India does not officially recognize the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan government or the Taliban government but has pragmatically engaged with Kabul since 2021, for humanitarian aid and trade facilitation, especially, via the Chabahar Port project and increased diplomatic contacts.

Earlier this year, in January, India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri met Muttaqi in Dubai, and held talks that focused on India’s humanitarian aid to Afghanistan’s health sector and for refugee rehabilitation. The government in Kabul has described India as a “significant regional and economic partner”. Indian diplomat Anand Prakash, who is the Joint secretary of the Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran division in the Ministry of External Affairs, met Muttaqi in Kabul in April of this year. In May, EAM Dr S Jaishankar spoke to FM Muttaqi, just days after India conducted Operation Sindoor after the Pahalgam terror attack by Pakistan-trained terrorists.

Kabul had condemned the Pahalgam terror attack, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi saying in a statement that the “Ministry of foreign affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan categorically condemns the recent attack on tourists in the Pahalgam region... such incidents undermine efforts to ensure regional security and stability.”

India had suspended its diplomatic mission in Kabul after the Taliban takeover in August 2021, but reopened it in July 2022. It deployed a technical team, with the then joint secretary in the Pakistan Afghanistan Iran division of India’s foreign ministry, JP Singh travelling to Kabul and meeting with the top Taliban leadership. India’s focus since then has been on humanitarian support to Afghan people.

In the aftermath of the earthquake in September, India was among the first countries to provide humanitarian assistance. It immediately delivered 1,000 family tents and 15 tonnes of food supplies to the affected provinces of Afghanistan. An additional 21 tonnes of relief materials, including essential medicines, hygiene kits, blankets and generators, were dispatched. Since August 2021, India has supplied around 50,000 tonnes of wheat, over 330 tonnes of medicines and vaccines, 40,000 litres of pesticides and other essential social support items, for millions of Afghans in dire need of humanitarian assistance.

In partnership with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, the Indian government has provided 84 MTs of assistance and medicines and 32 MTs of social support items for drug rehabilitation programmes, particularly those focused on women. Since 2023, India has provided scholarships for undergraduate and postgraduate courses to 2,000 Afghan students, including nearly 600 girls and women.