Conflict often leads to a reset in ties. As India and Pakistan engaged in a near-war, New Delhi’s ties with Ankara nosedived, as the nation extended support to Islamabad. Now, it seems that there’s another reset brewing — between India and the Taliban, which governs Afghanistan. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar spoke with the Taliban’s acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi over an official phone call.
Masterstroke! Taliban’s Unexpected Move Towards India
Why In News
- Conflict often leads to a reset in ties. As India and Pakistan engaged in a near-war, New Delhi’s ties with Ankara nosedived, as the nation extended support to Islamabad. Now, it seems that there’s another reset brewing — between India and the Taliban, which governs Afghanistan. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar spoke with the Taliban’s acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi over an official phone call.
- This marks the first political-level contact and conversation since the Taliban captured power in Kabul in August 2021. India had cleared 160 Afghan trucks carrying dry fruits and nuts through Attari, but these vehicles remained stranded on the Pakistani side until Friday, when Pakistan allowed them to enter India.
Jaishankar’s Phone Call With Taliban Minister
- On May 15, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held a telephone conversation with the Acting Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi. It’s important to note that India is yet to officially recognise the Taliban administration in Pakistan.
- Moreover, the phone call came just days after the Taliban regime condemned the Pahalgam terror attack, in which 26 civilians were killed by Pakistan-linked terrorists. aking to X after the phone call, S Jaishankar wrote, “Good conversation with Acting Afghan Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi this evening. Deeply appreciate his condemnation of the Pahalgam terrorist attack.”
- He added that during the discussion he “underlined our (India’s) traditional friendship with the Afghan people and continuing support for their development needs. Discussed ways and means of taking cooperation forward.” Jaishankar also wrote that he welcomed Muttaqi’s firm rejection of recent attempts to create distrust between India and Afghanistan through false and baseless reports.
- This was a reference to claims made by Pakistani media that India had “hired” the Taliban to carry out a “false flag” operation at Pahalgam.
- Hafiz Zia Ahmed, director of public communication at the Taliban’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that Muttaqi asked Dr Jaishankar to provide more visas to Afghan nationals, especially to those seeking medical attention. He also mentioned that bilateral trade, release and return of Afghan prisoners in Indian jails, and development of the Chabahar Port in Iran were discussed.
India -Taliban Inching Closer Towards One Another
- Since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, New Delhi has been cautious towards the regime, not granting it official recognition. However, India has been engaging with the Taliban through senior diplomats.
- For instance, last year, senior Indian diplomat JP Singh visited Afghanistan twice — once in March to meet Muttaqi and then in November to meet acting defence minister Mohammad Yaqub Mujahid. Then this January, India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri led a delegation of senior Indian diplomats at a substantive meeting in Dubai with Amir Khan Muttaqi.
- The Taliban government expressed interest in strengthening political and economic ties with India, calling it a “significant regional and economic power”. Talks reportedly focused on expanding trade and leveraging Iran’s Chabahar port, which India has been developing to bypass Pakistan’s Karachi and Gwadar ports.
- In the last week of April, Delhi sent M Anand Prakash, Joint Secretary in charge of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran in the Ministry of External Affairs, to Kabul. Notably, the visit came amid rising tensions between India and Pakistan over the Pahalgam terror attack.
- However, it is not known whether the issue figured in Prakash-Muttaqi talks. But at the same time, the Afghan Foreign Ministry condemned the Pahalgam terror attack. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan categorically condemns the recent attack on tourists in the Pahalgam region of Jammu and Kashmir, and expresses condolences to the bereaved families,” its spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi said.
Importance Of Iran’s Chabahar Port’
- Discussion on Chabahar Port assumes importance at a time when India and Pakistan have completely ended all trade ties and closed its border posts in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack. Being a land-locked country, Afghanistan feels the impact, as it depends on land routes via Pakistan to reach India.
- India and Afghanistan share a land border too, but that has remained cut-off by Pakistan-occupied Kashmir or PoK since 1947. The only other option for trade is via the Chabahar Port in Iran.
Confidence – Building Measures
- In recent times, the Government of India has also permitted the Taliban to gradually take control of the Afghan missions in New Delhi, Mumbai, and Hyderabad in order to provide consular services to its nationals in India and assist those coming from Afghanistan to India on business or to study, or get medical care.
- In terms of humanitarian aid, New Delhi had, till December 2024, dispatched several shipments consisting of more than 50,000 metric tonnes of wheat, 300 tonnes of medicines, 27 tonnes of earthquake relief aid, 40,000 litres of pesticides, 100 million polio doses, 1.5 million doses of the Covid vaccine, 11,000 units of hygiene kits for the drug de-addiction programme, 500 units of winter clothing and 1.2 tonnes of stationery kits, over the past few years.
