Afghan Overseas Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi will go to India on October 9, marking the primary senior-level Taliban delegation to New Delhi since 2021. The go to comes after months of backchannel diplomacy and rising humanitarian support from India.
In a serious diplomatic growth, Afghan Overseas Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi of the Taliban authorities is ready to go to India on October 9. This would be the first high-level go to from Kabul to New Delhi because the Taliban took management of Afghanistan in August 2021. The United Nations Safety Council has additionally granted Muttaqi a brief journey exemption between October 9 and 16, noting the importance of the go to for each Kabul and regional powers. “On 30 September 2025, the Safety Council Committee established pursuant to decision 1988 (2011) accredited an exemption to the journey ban for Amir Khan Motaqi (TAi . 026) to go to New Delhi, India, from 9 to 16 October 2025,” the United Nations Safety Council wrote in a press release.
As per the knowledge, Indian diplomatic circles have been getting ready for this go to for a number of months. Since January, Indian officers together with Overseas Secretary Vikram Misri have held a number of rounds of dialogue with Muttaqi and different Taliban leaders in impartial places comparable to Dubai. In Might, Exterior Affairs Minister S Jaishankar spoke with Muttaqi after India’s Operation Sindoor in opposition to Pakistan, marking the primary ministerial-level contact since 2021. Throughout that dialog, Jaishankar thanked the Taliban for condemning the Pahalgam terror assault and reaffirmed India’s “conventional friendship with the Afghan folks.”
Taliban condemnation of terror assaults
Earlier in April, the Taliban strongly condemned the Pahalgam terror assault in Jammu and Kashmir throughout a gathering with Indian officers in Kabul. This assertion was seen as a big shift, indicating that India and Afghanistan have been aligned on countering Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Since then, New Delhi has expanded humanitarian help to Afghanistan, together with meals, medicines and infrastructure cooperation.
India’s humanitarian outreach to Afghanistan
Following the devastating earthquake in Afghanistan in September, India was among the many first nations to reply and despatched 1,000 household tents and 15 tonnes of meals provides. Quickly after, a further 21 tonnes of aid materials, together with medicines, hygiene kits, blankets and mills have been dispatched. For the reason that Taliban takeover in 2021, India has equipped Afghanistan with practically 50,000 tonnes of wheat, over 330 tonnes of medicines and vaccines, 40,000 litres of pesticides and different necessities, providing crucial assist to thousands and thousands of Afghans dealing with extreme hardship.
Strategic implications for the area
It’s to be famous right here that Muttaqi’s upcoming go to is being seen as a diplomatic setback for Pakistan, which has historically maintained sturdy affect over Kabul. Relations between Islamabad and the Taliban soured earlier this yr after Pakistan deported greater than 80,000 Afghan refugees, creating area for India to increase its position. Analysts say the go to indicators Kabul’s intent to diversify its international ties and scale back reliance on Pakistan. For India, direct engagement with the Taliban is a calculated step aimed toward safeguarding its safety pursuits, countering terror threats and balancing Chinese language and Pakistani affect within the area.