In a first, foreign secretary meets minister from Afghanistan’s Taliban regime
This was the highest-ranking meeting between the two sides since the Taliban took power in August 2021.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on Wednesday met Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi, the acting foreign minister of Afghanistan’s Taliban government in Dubai.
This was the highest-ranking meeting between the two sides since the Taliban retook power in Afghanistan in August 2021.
Misri conveyed India’s readiness to respond to the urgent developmental needs of the Afghan people, the Ministry of External Affairs stated.
The Afghan delegation “underlined its sensitivities to India’s security concerns”, the ministry said.
New Delhi has not officially recognised the Taliban government in Afghanistan. However, the Indian government has allowed the Taliban to appoint a new consul general in Mumbai.
India closed its embassy in Kabul after the insurgent group seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 as the United States forces left the country following a 20-year conflict. However, in June 2022, India deployed a technical team at its embassy in Kabul “for the effective delivery of humanitarian assistance and in continuation of our engagement with the Afghan people”.
In November, Joint Secretary JP Singh, who manages the Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan desks, held discussions with representatives of the Taliban and met the regime’s acting Defence Minister Mullah Yaqoob. Singh had also met Muttaqi in March.
On Wednesday, the two sides discussed India’s ongoing humanitarian assistance programmes in Afghanistan. It was decided that India “would consider engaging in development projects in the near future, in addition to the ongoing humanitarian assistance programme”, the ministry said.
India had so far dispatched shipments of wheat, medicines, earthquake relief aid, pesticides, doses of polio and Covid-19 vaccines, winter clothing and stationery kits, the Indian external affairs ministry said.
The two sides agreed to promote the use of the Chabahar port in Iran for supporting trade and commercial activities, including for the purpose of humanitarian assistance, for Afghanistan. They also discussed strengthening cooperation in cricket.
The Afghan minister thanked the Indian leadership for its continued engagement and support for the people of Afghanistan, the statement said.
They agreed to maintain regular contacts at various diplomatic levels.
India-Maldives defence talks
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said that India had handed over military equipment and military stores to the Maldives on Malé’s request. The announcement came after he held talks with his Maldivian counterpart Mohammed Ghassan Maumoon in New Delhi.
The Indian government reaffirmed its readiness to support the Maldives in enhancing its defence preparedness including “provisioning of defence platforms and assets to augment [Maldivian] capacities”.
The two sides “reasserted the firm commitment to work closely” to achieve the vision of comprehensive economic and maritime security partnership, the defence ministry stated.
Maumoon appreciated India’s historical role as the “first responder” for the island nation and thanked New Delhi for assisting Malé with the training of its security personnel, the ministry added.
The India-Maldives ties have been strained over the past year.
New Delhi and Malé were involved in a diplomatic spat in the initial months of President Mohamed Muizzu’s tenure, which began in November 2023. A day after coming to power, Muizzu had also asked India to remove its military presence from the Maldives.
India was the only foreign power with a military presence in the Maldives. A group of Indian defence personnel had been maintaining radar stations and surveillance aircraft in the archipelago. Indian warships also help patrol the Maldives’ exclusive economic zone.
This partnership with Malé was of strategic importance to New Delhi amid its geopolitical competition with China in the Indian Ocean region.
The Ministry of External Affairs on January 3 rejected claims made by The Washington Post recently that India had colluded with Maldivian Opposition in a bid to oust Muizzu January 2024.
However, the alleged plot did not materialise and “India did not pursue or finance an attempt to oust him”, according to the report.
