NEW DELHI: Using the Indian terminal at Iran’s Chabahar port for exports and humanitarian help for the Afghan folks have been among the many points mentioned at conferences between an Indian delegation and Taliban leaders in Kabul this week, the exterior affairs ministry stated on Thursday.
A delegation led by JP Singh, joint secretary of the Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran division of the exterior affairs ministry, met the Taliban’s performing defence minister Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, performing overseas minister Amir Khan Muttaki and former president Hamid Karzai throughout the go to to Kabul.
This was the primary publicly acknowledged assembly between Yaqoob, the son of Taliban founder and late supreme chief Mullah Omar, and a senior Indian official because the fall of the Afghan authorities led by Ashraf Ghani in August 2021. Singh, who was on his second go to to Kabul this yr, has held a number of conferences with Muttaki lately.
The Indian delegation and the Taliban leaders had discussions on India’s humanitarian help for the Afghan folks and “how the Chabahar port could be utilised by the enterprise group in Afghanistan for transactions, for export and import and every other factor they want to do”, exterior affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal instructed a daily media briefing.
An Indian state-run firm operates a terminal at Chabahar port, which has been used lately for the trans-shipment of products to Afghanistan. Singh has been intently linked to India’s efforts to develop the terminal, together with the set up of cranes to boost its capability.
Jaiswal stated the delegation led by Singh additionally met heads of United Nations companies and different senior officers whereas in Kabul on November 4-5. “Offering humanitarian help to Afghanistan is a vital a part of our help programme,” he stated.
India has despatched a number of shipments of humanitarian help to Afghanistan lately, together with 50,000 tonnes of wheat, 40,000 litres of Malathion pesticide, 30 tonnes of medicines, and 28 tonnes of earthquake reduction help.
“We now have long-standing ties with the folks of Afghanistan and these ties will proceed to information our method in direction of the nation,” Jaiswal stated.
Like most different international locations, India hasn’t formally recognised the Taliban regime in Kabul.
After pulling out all its diplomats following the Taliban takeover, India re-established an official presence within the Afghan capital by reopening its mission and deploying a “technical group” in June 2022. Since then, the Indian facet has engaged the Taliban management each in Kabul and in third international locations.
