Taliban urges India to grant visas to Afghan businessmen, students; calls New Delhi a 'key regional player'
While assuring New Delhi that Afghanistan does not pose a threat to any nation, Taliban has urged India to grant visa to Afghan businessmen, students, patients.
While assuring New Delhi that Afghanistan does not pose a threat to any nation, Taliban has urged India to grant visa to Afghan businessmen, students, patients. Hafiz Zia Ahmad, who serves as the deputy spokesperson for the Afghanistan Foreign Ministry, said on X that Afghanistan conveyed the issue of visas to Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri.
First high-level meeting between India and Afghan Taliban
In the first publicly acknowledged engagement between the foreign secretary and a senior minister of the Taliban set up, India's Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri met Taliban regime's acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Dubai on Wednesday. The meeting saw the Afghan side underlining its "sensitivities" to India's security concerns.
"Today, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri had a meeting with the Acting Foreign Minister of Afghanistan, Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi, in Dubai," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.
The Misri-Muttaqi talks came two days after India "unequivocally" condemned Pakistani air strikes in Afghanistan that killed dozens of civilians.
India has not yet recognised the Taliban set-up and has been pitching for the formation of a truly inclusive government in Kabul. New Delhi has also been insisting that Afghan soil must not be used for any terrorist activities against any country.
India concerned over presence of terror elements in Afghanistan
It is learnt that New Delhi remains concerned over the presence in Afghanistan of terror elements belonging to Pakistan-based terror groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).
The MEA said the two sides discussed various issues about bilateral relations as well as regional developments.
"The foreign secretary underlined India's historic friendship with the Afghan people and the strong people-to-people contacts between the two countries. In this context, he conveyed India's readiness to respond to the urgent developmental needs of the Afghan people," it said.
"In view of the current need for development activities, it was decided that India would consider engaging in development projects in the near future, in addition to the ongoing humanitarian assistance programme," it added.
Notably, India has been extending humanitarian aid to Afghanistan in the last few years.
(With PTI inputs)
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