India and Afghanistan’s Taliban government announced expanded diplomatic relations Friday following their highest-level talks in four years, even as the militant group accused Pakistan of conducting airstrikes on Afghan territory.
Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar met with Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in New Delhi, marking the most significant engagement between the two sides in decades. India announced it would re-establish its embassy in Kabul as a full-fledged diplomatic mission, though the move stopped short of formally recognizing the Taliban government.
The embassy, which closed in the 1990s during the Taliban’s first rule, has operated at reduced capacity since the group’s return to power in 2021. India also pledged to expand development aid to Afghanistan, including building shelters for refugees forcibly returned from Pakistan and Iran.
Muttaqi emphasized the historical bonds between the two nations and invited Indian investment in Afghanistan’s mining sector. “We will not allow any group to threaten others from the Afghan soil,” he said, seeking to reassure India about security concerns.
The diplomatic warming came against a backdrop of escalating regional tensions. On the same day, the Taliban’s defense ministry accused Pakistan of conducting airstrikes along the Afghan border and breaching Kabul’s airspace. Social media posts, including from former Afghan President Hamid Karzai, suggested Pakistani strikes caused explosions in central Kabul late Thursday.
Pakistan’s military confirmed conducting “a series of retribution operations” following two deadly attacks in the country but declined to specify locations. The strikes represent a dramatic deterioration in relations between Pakistan and the Taliban, despite Islamabad’s historical support for the militant group during its insurgency.
Pakistan has accused the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, a banned militant group, of planning attacks from Afghan sanctuaries with assistance from Indian intelligence—a charge Afghan officials deny. If confirmed, strikes on Kabul would mark a major escalation, with timing seemingly intended to send a message about the Taliban’s warming relations with India.
Muttaqi called the border strikes “a big mistake of the Pakistan government” and warned that anyone attempting to use force against Afghanistan should learn from “the British, the Soviets, the Americans and NATO.” He emphasized wanting good relations with both Pakistan and India, but insisted they “can’t be one-sided.”
India’s rapprochement with the Taliban represents a significant shift. During the Taliban’s 1990s rule and subsequent insurgency, New Delhi maintained distance, partly due to accusations that the group sheltered hijackers of an Indian plane in 1999 and conducted a 2008 terrorist attack on India’s Kabul embassy that killed four Indian officials.
Neither foreign minister publicly addressed these incidents or the Taliban’s human rights record, including its ban on girls’ education beyond sixth grade.
The developments reflect shifting regional dynamics as India and Pakistan, nuclear-armed neighbors who fought a brief military conflict earlier this year, compete for influence in Afghanistan.
