KABUL, Afghanistan: Afghanistan’s Taliban regime’s Minister of Industry and Commerce, Nooruddin Azizi, will undertake a five-day visit to India starting November 19.
The development comes amid rapidly deteriorating Pakistan–Afghan Taliban relations, with Islamabad accusing the Taliban regime of acting as an Indian proxy.
Accompanied by a high-level delegation, the minister will meet his Indian counterpart, Piyush Goyal, during the visit.
This marks the second cabinet-level trip by the Taliban rulers to New Delhi in less than a month. The visit follows last month’s trip by Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.
Ahead of Azizi’s arrival, Afghanistan’s national carrier, Ariana Afghan Airlines, announced an immediate and India-exclusive reduction of more than 50% in cargo rates on the Delhi route.
“Earlier, Ariana was charging $2 per kilogram for cargo between Delhi and Kabul. Now, it has been instructed to reduce the rate to 80 cents per kg from Delhi to Kabul and $1 per kg from Kabul to Delhi,” said Mawlawi Bakhturahman Sharafat, the airline’s director general.
In another major development, Afghanistan’s Taliban regime has urged Afghan traders to reduce their dependence on Pakistan for trade and transit, citing repeated border closures, amid Islamabad’s longstanding concerns about cross-border terrorism involving banned terrorist groups operating from Afghan territory.
At a press conference in Kabul, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban’s Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, said Pakistan had obstructed Afghanistan’s trade routes, causing heavy financial losses.
Since the Taliban’s takeover in 2021, Pakistan has faced a sharp rise in militant attacks launched from Afghan territory.
Analysts say the proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has rebuilt and expanded its operational infrastructure under Taliban protection, directing attacks against civilians, security forces, and border posts across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has alleged that India is conducting a “low-intensity” conflict against Pakistan from Afghan territory, claiming that New Delhi is attempting to “settle the score” after its setback in the four-day clash with Islamabad in May.
During an interview with Al Arabiya English, he said, “When it comes to showing the evidence, or tabling the evidence, we will do that. We have the evidence,” highlighting that the Afghan foreign minister was visiting the Indian capital when border clashes began between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
He went on to say that there was no doubt about Afghanistan having become an “Indian proxy”.
“And India is actually waging a low-intensity war against us from the Afghan territory and trying to settle the score [after] the last round we had around six or five months back, when they were squarely defeated. And they lost seven planes.
Security experts warn that the Taliban’s continued sheltering of TTP and other anti-Pakistan militants risks plunging the region into a new cycle of instability.
Islamabad, they add, is running out of patience after repeated diplomatic efforts failed to persuade Kabul to curb cross-border terrorism.
