KABUL – India announced Friday that it will reopen its embassy in Kabul, upgrading its limited “technical mission” to a full diplomatic presence.
The announcement was made during talks in New Delhi between Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, who is on a six-day visit after being granted a temporary exemption from a U.N. travel ban. It is the first official visit to India by a senior Taliban leader since the group seized power in August 2021.
Muttaqi said the decision would allow both sides to “slowly return to normalcy,” adding that the Taliban administration also plans to send its diplomats to New Delhi.
“India will raise its technical mission to a diplomatic mission in Kabul, and our diplomats will also come here,” he told reporters.
India had closed its embassy in Kabul in August 2021 following the withdrawal of U.S.-led NATO forces, but reopened a small technical office a year later to manage humanitarian assistance, trade, and medical coordination.
The decision now places India among a small group of regional countries, including China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey, maintaining diplomatic missions in Kabul. Of these, Russia is the only one to have formally recognized the Taliban, whose leaders remain under U.N. sanctions and travel restrictions.
India, which enjoyed close relations with previous Afghan governments, had long been wary of directly engaging the Taliban, fearing the group’s links to Pakistan-based militant networks. However, recent cross-border tensions and security considerations appear to have prompted a rethink.
