India To Recognise The Taliban?

The week-long visit of Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi to India beginning on October 9, will be a critical development in South and Central Asian geopolitics. It will be taking place at a time when Pakistan and the US are working together to counter New Delhi’s influence in Afghanistan and the region.

India has been very successfully working with the Taliban-led Afghan government even without formally recognizing it, given the UNSC sanctions on the Taliban’s leadership. India’s influence had been built up assiduously through many people-oriented developmental projects. But now India’s place is under serious threat from the newly-forged axis between Islamabad and Washington.

While Pakistan is hoping to work on Kabul through two “contact groups”, one led by Uzbekistan and the other by China, the US is flexing its muscles arrogantly demanding the restoration of the strategically-located Bagram airbase.

It is significant that the US and Pakistan had resisted New Delhi’s bid to get UNSC sanction lifted to enable Muttaqi’s visit to India.

Although Muttaqi’s visit is unlikely to immediately result in New Delhi’s formal recognition of the Taliban regime, given the general revulsion over its human rights record, it will deepen ties between the two countries.

India has stood out in the comity of nations by serving the basic needs of the people of Afghanistan who had been devastated by decades of war perpetrated by outside powers, first the USSR and then by the US backed by Pakistan.

Since the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, India has supplied that country with nearly 50,000 tonnes of wheat, more than 330 tonnes of medicines and vaccines, and 40,000 litres of pesticides, along with a range of other essential items, which were critical for millions of Afghans grappling with food insecurity and health challenges.

Following the devastating earthquake in Afghanistan in September this year, India dispatched 1,000 family tents and 15 tonnes of food. This was followed by an additional 21 tonnes of relief material, including essential medicines, hygiene kits, blankets, and generators.

In 2024, India reopened its embassy in Kabul but without giving diplomatic recognition. In March 2025, India decided to allow the Taliban to appoint a representative to lead Afghanistan’s embassy in New Delhi. India is now set to send personnel to fully resume operations at its embassy and consulates in Afghanistan.

Both sides are likely to agree on posting full-fledged Ambassadors and also expand their consular presence. There could be Afghan Consulates in Mumbai and Hyderabad.

As usual, counter-terrorism cooperation is a key part of India’s relations with the Taliban. There were encouraging signs in this regard when the Taliban regime condemned the April 2025 terror attack at Pahalgam carried out by Pakistan-based outfitm the Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy for Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

During his first phone conversation with Muttaqi on May 15, India’s Foreign Minister S.Jaishankar welcomed the Taliban’s rejection of “attempts to create distrust between India and Afghanistan through false and baseless reports”. Jaishankar was referring to reports in a section of the Pakistani media that claimed India had “hired” the Taliban to carry out a “false flag” operation at Pahalgam. At the time, Muttaqi referred to India “as a key regional country”.

Taliban-ruled Afghanistan was treated as an international outcaste since it came to power in 2021 for its callous treatment of women and girls. But now, in the fifth year of its rule, the Taliban are being wooed by regional and world powers, given the growing hunger for minerals and other natural resources in Afghanistan and its strategic location.

Powers with money such as the US and China are making a beeline to Kabul to get contracts for the extraction of resources believed to be worth US$ 1 trillion. India would also like a slice of the cake.

Some countries are already operating embassies in Kabul and have accepted diplomats appointed by the Taliban, though without formal recognition. Few are aware that the Taliban control Afghan embassies in 14 countries.

Afghanistan's neighbours, concerned about security, trade, migration, and drug trafficking, have established unofficial ties with it to influence the Taliban’s policies.

In January 2025, China became the first country to formally accept the credentials of a Taliban-appointed Ambassador, though it did so, without officially recognizing the Taliban-led government. China later formed a contact group on Afghanistan with Russia, Pakistan and Iran.

In July, Russia became the first country to formally recognise the Taliban regime. Earlier in April, the Taliban were removed from Russia's list of terrorist organisations. President Vladimir Putin referred to the Taliban as an "ally" in fighting terrorism. Foreign Minister Muttaqi was in Moscow on October 7 attending a meeting of a contact group.

Pakistan had kept a link with the Taliban since October 2021 and allowed the Taliban to take over the Afghan embassy in Islamabad. However, Pakistan-Taliban relations soured because Pakistan accused the Taliban of supporting the radical Islamist Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other terror groups like the Baloch Liberation Army and the Majid Brigade.

Afghanistan does not recognise the Durand Line as its border with Pakistan. Islamabad's decision to forcibly repatriate more than 80,000 Afghan refugees further strained ties with the Taliban.

Given the geographical proximity, Central Asian countries and the Taliban have forged close ties. Kazakhstan removed the Taliban from its list of terrorist groups. Uzbekistan has been engaging the Taliban. The Taliban appointed a diplomat to take charge of the Afghan Embassy in the Uzbek capital. Turkmenistan had accepted a Taliban ambassador in March 2022. The two countries worked on regional energy and transport projects. Azerbaijan has reopened its embassy in Kabul.

Tajikistan is the only country in Central Asia to publicly oppose the Taliban's return to power and has hosted some of the leaders of the National Resistance Front, an anti-Taliban resistance group.

In the Arab world, Qatar has been most friendly. Doha was the scene of negotiations between the Taliban and the US that paved the way for the complete withdrawal of all foreign troops from Afghanistan in 2021. The Taliban is expecting Qatar to give it entry into an Islamic alliance. The United Arab Emirates maintains an embassy in Kabul. The Taliban have appointed diplomats to the Afghan Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the consulate in Dubai.

Saudi Arabia has maintained an embassy in Kabul and continues to offer consular services for Afghans, thousands of whom work in Saudi Arabia as labourers. After the Taliban takeover, Riyadh helped establish an Organization of Islamic Countries mission in Kabul.

In August, representatives of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan held a meeting of the contact group for Afghanistan.

Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the meeting emphasized regional cooperation for ensuring Afghanistan’s stability, security, and sustainable development. It sought coordination in the fight against transnational crime, extremism, terrorism, and drug trafficking.

There is already another Afghanistan contact group, comprising Russia, China, Pakistan and Iran. In September, this quadrilateral group jointly expressed deep concern over the presence of terrorist organisations operating from Afghanistan, including Al-Qaeda, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Baluchistan Liberation Army (BLA) and Majid Brigade.

The contact group urged the Afghan authorities to take “effective, concrete and verifiable actions” against terrorist outfits, dismantle training camps, cut off financing, and prevent recruitment and access to weapons.

But the Taliban have said that they do not support terrorism and have stated that narcotics will not be cultivated or trafficked and youngsters will not join terror groups if the international community begins to support Afghanistan economically, the US hands back its frozen funds, and countries accord diplomatic recognition.