Indian Government Holds First Formal Talks with Taliban

An Indian governmental delegation met with leaders of the Taliban in Kabul on Thursday for the first time since the group seized control of Afghanistan in August 2021, Asian News International (ANI) reported, noting that the high-level meeting concerned bilateral relations and humanitarian aid.

“A team led by Joint Secretary (PAI), Ministry of External Affairs, is currently on a visit to Kabul to oversee the delivery operations of our humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan,” a press release by India’s foreign ministry stated on June 2.

The statement referred to J.P. Singh, who serves as the Joint Secretary for the “Pakistan Afghanistan & Iran (PAI) division” of India’s Ministry of External Affairs.

Representatives of India’s foreign ministry met with “senior members of the Taliban” during Thursday’s visit to discuss humanitarian aid distribution to Afghans, according to ANI. India recently donated food, clothing, and medicines to impoverished Afghans. Though Afghanistan has long been one of the poorest countries in the world, it has faced exceptional economic hardship since last summer. A U.S. military withdrawal from the country combined with a Taliban takeover of Kabul in August 2021 plunged the nation into financial turmoil.

The Indian foreign ministry detailed New Delhi’s recent donations to Afghanistan in its June 2 press release, writing:

In this endeavor, we have already dispatched several shipments of humanitarian assistance consisting of 20,000 MTs [metric tons] of wheat, 13 tons of medicines, 500,000 doses of Covid [Chinese coronavirus] vaccine and winter clothing.

These consignments were handed over to the India Gandhi Children Hospital, Kabul and UN [United Nations] specialized agencies including WHO [World Health Organization] and WFP [World Food Program].

New Delhi revealed on Thursday that it recently sent additional medical aid shipments to Iran for distribution among Afghan refugees in the country. An estimated 300,000 Afghans fled their homeland for neighboring Iran after the Taliban overtook Kabul last summer.

“In continuation with our developmental partnership with Afghan brethren, we have gifted one million doses of India-made COVAXIN to Iran to administer to Afghan refugees in Iran. We have also assisted UNICEF [United Nations Children’s Fund] by supplying almost 60 million doses of polio vaccine and two tons of essential medicines,” India’s foreign ministry said on June 2.

Covaxin is the first Chinese coronavirus vaccine developed and produced entirely within India.

The Taliban terrorist organization announced a ban on exporting wheat out of Afghanistan on Thursday in response to concerns that the country soon face critical food shortages. https://t.co/EyRN0a56YO

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The Taliban’s self-proclaimed “acting foreign minister” of Afghanistan, Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi, “met with an Indian foreign ministry delegation led by senior official J.P. Singh,” Reuters reported on Thursday.

Taliban spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi provided a summary of the meeting in a series of posts on his Twitter account on June 2.

“Mr. Singh … [said] India wants to assist in line with Afghanistan’s priorities with infrastructural & small projects, capacity building, educational scholarships & humanitarian aid,” Balkhi wrote.

Indian foreign ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi answered some questions from Indian journalists about the meeting on June 2. The Times of India quoted a reporter as asking Bagchi “if New Delhi now officially recognised the Taliban administration.” Bagchi replied that reporters were “reading far too much into the visit.”

“India pulled its officials out of Afghanistan last August and closed its embassy, although it is keen to retain ties with the country where its regional rival Pakistan wields considerable influence,” Reuters observed on Thursday.

“Bagchi declined to say when the embassy might be reopened, except to say that local staff had continued to function and ensure proper maintenance and upkeep of its premises there,” the news agency added.