India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar held an official cell phone dialog on Thursday with Amir Khan Muttaqi, the performing International Minister of the Taliban-led administration in Afghanistan. This makes the first minister-level verbal replace between India and the Taliban regime for the reason that community took control of Afghanistan in 2021, a major style offered that New Delhi has not formally recognized the Taliban authorities.
The timing of the name is distinguished because it follows the Taliban’s public condemnation of the latest terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, where 26 vacationers lost their lives in a brutal assault believed to had been done by Pakistan-backed terrorists.
Dr. Jaishankar took to social media platform X to fraction insights from the dialog. “Had a optimistic dialogue this evening with Acting Afghan International Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi,” he wrote. He expressed gratitude for the Taliban’s sturdy denouncement of the Pahalgam incident, and reiterated India’s long-standing ties with the Afghan folks, emphasizing persisted Indian toughen for Afghanistan’s style.
The 2 ministers reportedly explored chances for future collaboration. Dr. Jaishankar also addressed latest attempts by sections of the Pakistani media to sow discord between New Delhi and Kabul. He welcomed Mr. Muttaqi’s obvious dismissal of deceptive reports suggesting Afghan involvement in the Kashmir violence, calling it a favorable gesture that enhances mutual belief.
At some stage in the dialog, Taliban’s Director of Verbal replace, Hafiz Zia Ahmad printed that Muttaqi made several key requests and raised fundamental points with Jaishankar.
Muttaqi reportedly urged India to whisper more visas to Afghan voters, particularly these in urgent need of scientific medication. He also introduced up matters related to bilateral alternate, the originate and repatriation of Afghan nationals imprisoned in India, and the progress of the Chabahar Port project in Iran .
Ahmad shared the fundamental points in a series of posts on social media in Pashto, summarizing the indispensable matters lined correct via the ministers’ dialogue.
The dialog round the Chabahar Port features added significance because it comes at a time when India and Pakistan beget fully severed alternate family and shut down all land border crossings following the Pahalgam dread attack. This breakdown in ties has sing penalties for Afghanistan, a landlocked nation that has historically relied on land routes via Pakistan to rep admission to Indian markets.
Although India and Afghanistan technically fraction a land border, that corridor has remained inaccessible since 1947, because it passes via Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Without a viable land route, Chabahar Port in Iran emerges because the most productive intellectual quite loads of for facilitating alternate between the 2 countries.
