India held its first meeting with the Taliban Acting Defence Minister Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid, the son of Taliban founder Mullah Omar, in Kabul, besides with other ministers of the Taliban regime, a top official said here today.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, answering queries at a media briefing, confirmed that a delegation led by JP Singh, Joint Secretary in the MEA in charge of the Pakistan, Iran and Afghan desk, had visited Kabul November 4-5, “during which he held several meetings with ministers and met former president Hamid Karzai and the heads of UN agencies”.
Asked if Singh had met the Taliban Acting Defence Minister, he said: “Yes, this was the first meeting with the interim Defence Minister of Afghanistan; and humanitarian assistance from India was the centrepiece of the meetings of JP Singh with Afghan officials.”
His explanation comes as the Taliban defence ministry in a post on X published a picture of the Acting Defence Minister with JP Singh, with the Taliban flag behind.
It read: “The Administrator of National Defense Ministry met with a Delegation from India.
“The defense ministry’s administrator, Mawlawi Mohammad Yaqoob “Mujahid” at his office today, met with an Indian delegation, headed by Mr. JP Singh, deputy Minister of Indian foreign affairs for PAI.
“During this meeting, both sides declared their common desire to enlarge the bilateral relations, chiefly in the scopes of humanitarian cooperation, along with other issues, and expressed their interest in further reinforcing of the interactions between Afghanistan and India.”
According to Tolo News, JP Singh also met with Amir Khan Muttaqi, the acting Foreign Minister, to discuss bilateral economic and political relations between Kabul and New Delhi.
“The Taliban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement said that during the meeting, Muttaqi requested visa facilitation for Afghan traders to enhance trade relations with India.
“According to the statement, Singh highlighted the importance of developing relations between the two countries and added that discussions between delegations from Afghanistan, India, and other regional countries regarding the Chabahar port would begin in the near future.”
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that during JP Singh’s meetings in Kabul the two sides held discussions on India’s humanitarian assistance and also how the business community in Kabul can access Iran’s Chabahar port, which is being operated by India following a 10-year agreement signed in May this year.
He said the discussions around Chabahar focused on how business groups in Afghanistan can use the Iranian port, which is a new connectivity corridor, for transactions and exports and imports.
He also said that India’s humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan is a very important facet of the relationship, and India has so far despatched several shipments of assistance, including 50 metric tonnes of wheat, 300 tonnes of medicines, 20,000 tonnes of earthquake relief material, and pesticides.
Jaiswal said India bases its ties with Kabul on its very ancient and historic people-to-people ties with Afghanistan “which will keep guiding our future relations”.
On Wednesday, former Afghan president Hamid Karzai in a post on X posted a photo of his meeting with JP Singh, saying:
“In this meeting, the long-standing and historical relations between the two countries were discussed and emphasis was placed on strengthening bilateral relations as much as possible.
“While appreciating the cooperation of India with the people of Afghanistan, the former president asked for more attention of that country on the education and training of the Afghan youth, development of trade exchanges and ease of travel between India and Afghanistan.”
UNI RN
