India to reopen its embassy in Kabul: Foreign Minister Jaishankar

ISLAMABAD: India will be upgrading its technical mission in the Afghan capital Kabul to an embassy, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said on Friday.

He said this in his opening remarks at his meeting with Foreign Minister of Interim Afghan Government, Amir Khan Mutaqqi, in New Delhi on Friday.

Jaishankar said India appreciated interim Afghan government’s sensitivity toward India’s security concerns, adding “your solidarity with us in the aftermath of Pahalgam terrorist attack was noteworthy.” He said, “India is fully committed to the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of Afghanistan.”  

Embassy in Kabul 

Jaishankar said, “closer cooperation between us contributes to your national development as well as regional stability and resilience, to enhance that I am pleased to announce today, the upgrading of India’s technical mission in Kabul to the status of embassy of India.”

The meeting between the two foreign ministers is a first high-level diplomatic engagement with New Delhi since Taliban seized power in 2021 after two decades of US military presence, the Associated Press reported on Friday.

Temporary travel exemption

Amir Khan Muttaqi, who is among multiple Afghan Taliban leaders under UN sanctions that include travel bans and asset freezes, arrived in New Delhi on Thursday after the UN Security Council Committee granted a temporary travel exemption to him.

The visit comes after Muttaqi’s participation on Tuesday at an international meeting on Afghanistan in Russia that included representatives from China, India, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

Muttaqi’s India visit highlights the Taliban administration’s efforts to seek international recognition and underscores India’s strategic move to counter its regional rivals.

‘Engaging discussions’ 

Randhir Jaiswal, Indian’s foreign ministry spokesman, extended a welcome to Muttaqi in a post on X on Thursday and said: “We look forward to engaging discussions with him on bilateral relations and regional issues.”

India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri met Muttaqi in Dubai in January. It was followed by telephone conversations between Muttaqi and Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, India's foreign minister. India’s special envoy to Afghanistan visited Kabul in April to discuss political and trade relations.

‘Strategic reassessment’ 

Experts say India’s decision to engage with the Taliban at higher levels reflects its strategic reassessment, shaped in part by the consequences of previous non-engagement, as well as to avoid falling behind its primary strategic rivals.

Praveen Donthi, senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, said Muttaqi’s visit marks India’s pragmatic engagement with the Taliban.

“New Delhi views the world through the prism of its rivalry with either China, Pakistan, or both. The Taliban’s efforts at a balanced foreign policy, which involves establishing relations with rival countries and groups, mirror New Delhi’s own playbook,” Donthi said.

Strategic counterbalance 

The visit comes while Afghanistan’s ties with Pakistan are strained, especially over refugee deportations and border tensions, and India’s engagement is seen as a strategic counterbalance to Pakistan’s influence. India also aims to limit Chinese dominance in Afghanistan through infrastructure and diplomatic presence.

“With Beijing proactively engaging the Taliban, New Delhi wouldn’t want its primary strategic rival to hold exclusive influence over Kabul,” Donthi said.

He said Pakistan had a similar hold over the Taliban in the past, but due to its deteriorating ties with Islamabad, New Delhi sees an opportunity to “develop modest influence over Kabul and strengthen its position as a regional power.”

When the Taliban took over Kabul four years ago, Indian security analysts had feared that it would benefit Pakistan and feed the struggle in Indian-Occupied Kashmir.

But New Delhi maintained a steady contact with the Taliban despite these concerns. It established a technical mission in Kabul in 2022, a year after the Taliban returned to power, focusing on humanitarian aid and development support.

It continued engagement through backchannel diplomacy and regional forums that subsequently prompted increased engagement between the two countries this year.

India has long hosted tens of thousands of Afghan nationals, including students and businesspeople, many of whom fled the country after the Taliban rule. Afghanistan’s embassy in New Delhi shut down permanently in November 2023, but its consulates in Mumbai and Hyderabad continue to operate with limited services.

De jure recognition

Gautam Mukhopadhaya, who was India’s ambassador in Kabul between 2010 and 2013, said the engagement between India and Afghanistan “may or may not lead to formal de jure recognition (of the Taliban government), although protocol gestures for the visit suggest the former."

The Taliban have engaged in high-level talks with many nations and established some diplomatic ties with countries, including China and the United Arab Emirates. In July, Russia became the first country to recognize the Taliban government after removing the group from its list of outlawed organizations.

Still, the Taliban government has been relatively isolated on the world stage, mainly over its restrictions on women, the Associated Press reported.

Mukhopadhaya said India should not take “that additional step to legitimize oppressive and unpopular Taliban rule internally” and “should preserve some levers to enable positive change internally for the benefit of all Afghans.”