Foreign Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar had an official conversation with the acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Mottki of Afghanistan’s Taliban rule on Thursday. In this conversation, issues such as India-Afghan traditional friendship, development cooperation and recent Pahalgam terror attack were raised prominently.
In this historic conversation, Jaishankar underlined India’s traditional friendship with the Afghan people and reiterated the commitment of continuous support for their development needs. It is worth noting that India has not yet given official recognition to the Taliban rule.
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This dialogue took place at a time when the Taliban government publicly condemned the Pahalgam attack. 26 people died in this terrorist attack on May 7 in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, which included Pak-backed terrorists.
After the conversation, Jaishankar wrote on the social media platform ‘X’-“A good conversation with acting Afghan Foreign Minister Mawalvi Amir Khan Mutki. He had gratitude for condemning the Pahalgam terror attack. He reiterated our traditional friendship and our commitment to development with the Afghan people. Discussed further cooperation.”
This is the first time that there has been an official dialogue between India and the Taliban at the political level, while India has not yet given a formal recognition to the Taliban government. Earlier, in January 2025, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Egypt met Mottaki in Dubai.
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Earlier such contact was seen in the year 1999-2000, when Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh had a conversation with the then Taliban Foreign Minister Waqil Ahmed Muttawakil during the Kandahar aircraft kidnapping case. Experts believe that this dialogue is part of India’s strategic diplomacy, in which it is trying to contact the Afghan people and to help the regional stability with the Afghan people. India’s move not only reflects its long-term commitment to the Afghan people, but also underlines its active role in changing geo-political equations in the region.