During a meeting with JP Singh, an official of the Indian Foreign Ministry, Taliban’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said that the group expects its relations with Delhi to develop, AfIntl. com reports.
In this meeting, Muttaqi also called for facilitating the issuance of Indian visas to Afghans, especially businessmen.
Zia Ahmad, the Taliban's deputy foreign ministry spokesman, said in a statement on the social media platform X on Thursday, November 7, that Muttaqi and Singh discussed political and economic relations between Afghanistan and India.
The statement quoted Amir Khan Muttaqi as saying that the Taliban expect the group's relations with India to expand in various sectors.
JP Singh is in charge of the Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran section of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs.
In its statement, the Taliban's Foreign Ministry quoted the Indian official as saying that in addition to humanitarian aid, Delhi has also started its development assistance to Afghanistan and is in technical talks in this regard with relevant institutions in Afghanistan.
The Taliban statement also quoted JP Singh as saying that in the near future, talks on Chabahar port will be held between technical delegations of the countries of the region, Afghanistan and India.
The Indian diplomat also met with Yaqoob Mujahid, the Taliban's defence minister. In this meeting, Taliban and Indian officials emphasised on the expansion of bilateral relations.
The Taliban said that the Indian official promised to facilitate the issuance of visas to Afghans.
After the Taliban takeover, India closed its embassy in Kabul. New Delhi also cancelled all visas issued to Afghans and stopped issuing new visas. More than three years after the Taliban rule, India is still not responding to Afghans' visa applications. Thousands of Afghan students in India, who went to Afghanistan on vacation after the Taliban came to power, are stranded there.
India sent a delegation to Kabul for the first time since the fall of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in 2022. Although the visit was aimed at providing humanitarian aid, Taliban officials, including Mullah Yaqoob, Amir Khan Muttaqi, and Abbas Stanikzai, spoke to Indian media afterwards and expressed their desire to expand ties with Delhi.
The Taliban and India are discussing expanding relations at a time when relations between the Taliban and Pakistan are tense. Pakistan accuses the Taliban and India of supporting the country's armed opposition. An accusation that the Taliban and India have denied.
CentralasianLIGHT.org
November 7, 2024