NEW DELHI: India has upgraded its mission in Kabul to the status of an Embassy after the ties between New Delhi and the Afghan Taliban regime improved.
India shut down its embassy in Kabul after the Taliban took control following the withdrawal of US-led NATO forces in 2021.
However, a year later, it reopened a limited diplomatic mission to support trade, provide medical assistance, and deliver humanitarian aid.
Around a dozen countries currently maintain embassies in Kabul, including China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan, and Turkiye. Among them, Russia is the only nation that has officially recognised the Taliban administration.
“In keeping with the decision announced during the recent visit of the Afghan FM to India, the government is restoring the status of the technical mission of India in Kabul to that of the embassy of India in Afghanistan with immediate effect,” said a press release issued today by India’s Ministry of External Affairs.
The MEA added that the embassy will “further augment India’s contribution to Afghanistan’s comprehensive development, humanitarian assistance and capacity-building initiatives, in keeping with the priorities and aspirations of Afghan society”.
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar announced the reopening of India’s embassy in Kabul earlier this month, as he held talks with Afghan Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi. The meeting marked the first visit by a Taliban leader to India since 2021.
It is pertinent to mention that Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has said that since the Taliban seized control of Kabul in August 2021, as many as 3,844 Pakistanis—including civilians, military personnel, and law enforcement officials—have been martyred, while 10,347 incidents of terrorism have taken place in Pakistan.
“Those who were once given refuge by Pakistan are now sitting in India’s lap and plotting against Pakistan,” he said.
Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban had been recently engaged in cross-border strikes triggered by an unprovoked attack by Afghan Taliban forces and the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorist group, prompting Islamabad to launch airstrikes as well as a response on the ground, resulting in the elimination of more than 200 Afghan Taliban and affiliated terrorists.
The ceasefire was reached this weekend during talks in Doha, mediated by Qatar and Turkiye, following a week of heightened hostilities along the Pakistan–Afghanistan border.
A follow-up round of negotiations between the two countries is scheduled to take place in Istanbul on October 25.
