India will reopen embassy in Kabul, S Jaishankar tells Afghan foreign minister

India will reopen its embassy in Kabul, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told Taliban-ruled Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi on Friday.

Jaishankar said that Muttaqi’s visit to Delhi marked “an important step” in advancing bilateral relations. The meeting is the highest bilateral contact between India and the Taliban since 2021.

New Delhi has not officially recognised the Taliban government in Afghanistan. However, the Indian government has allowed the Taliban to appoint a consul general in Mumbai.

India closed its embassy in Kabul after the insurgent group retook 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 diplomatic mission in Kabul “for the effective delivery of humanitarian assistance and in continuation of our engagement with the Afghan people”.

The technical mission will now be upgraded to the status of an embassy.

On Friday, the external affairs minister told Muttaqi that New Delhi appreciates Kabul’s “sensitivity towards India’s security concerns” in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack in April.

The terror attack at Baisaran near Pahalgam town in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22 left 26 persons dead and 16 injured. The terrorists targeted tourists after asking their names to ascertain their religion, the police said. All but three of those killed were Hindu.

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