Jaishankar-Muttaqi meet today: Will India recognise Taliban as Afghanistan govt?

As the Taliban seeks an upgrade in its diplomatic ties with India, Afghanistan’s Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi is scheduled to meet External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar on Friday. The meeting between the two diplomats would take place a day after Mustaqi arrived in New Delhi to kick-start his 6-day visit to the country.

The Taliban diplomat’s visit is expected to boost India’s fast-growing economic ties and people-to-people contacts with Kabul, even without a formal recognition of the regime in the battered country. On the eve of the meeting between Jaishankar and Muttaqi, a top Taliban leader told The Times of India that “it is time for both governments to elevate the relationship by granting recognition to the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA),” the name used by the Taliban for the country.

“It is the first high-level visit by our foreign minister to India and is very significant. We expect it will initiate a new phase of relations between the two countries. There are a lot of areas which can be explored for cooperation during this visit,” the head of the Taliban’s political office and Afghanistan’s ambassador to Qatar, Suhail Shaheen, told TOI. 

“I think it is time for the leadership of both countries to raise the diplomatic level by granting recognition to the IEA government and thus paving the way for bilateral cooperation and expansion of relations in various fields,” he added. It is pertinent to note that the UN Security Council earlier had to waive a travel ban on Muttaqi to allow him to travel to India.

What’s in store for India

The fact that India was keen to host Muttaqi reflected a sign of growing trust in the relationship between the two nations. The visit is also expected to help India to further capitalise on the dramatic deterioration in the Taliban’s ties with Pakistan , which accuses Kabul of funding and arming the Pakistan Taliban or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

However, recognition of the Taliban continues to remain a tricky matter as the Indian government wants its position to align with that of the international community. That position is unlikely to change with Muttaqi’s visit.

The government of India has said in the past that it seeks a sovereign, democratic and peaceful Afghanistan, where the interests of all sections of Afghan society, including women, children and minorities, are protected. Additionally, despite credible assurances by Kabul that it won’t allow Afghanistan to be used against India, New Delhi still has concerns over links between the Pakistan-based terror group and forces in Afghanistan.

Despite all this, India already has projects across the 34 provinces of Afghanistan and has also committed to engaging in more development projects soon, while continuing with its ongoing humanitarian assistance programme, buoyed by the support it has received from the Taliban. After Delhi, Muttaqi would travel to Agra and Deoband. He was initially planning to travel to Mumbai and Hyderabad; however, those plans have been cancelled as of now.