In a 1st, Jaishankar speaks to Taliban minister, welcomes J&K attack condemnation
In the first political-level contact between India and Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power in Kabul in August 2021, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar spoke with the country's acting Foreign Minister over the phone and thanked him for condemning the Pahalgam attacks.
In Short
- Jaishankar's talk marks first-ever discussion with Afghan since Taliban takeover
- New Delhi welcomes Kabul's rejection of attempts to create distrust
- Jaishankar thanks Taliban for condemning Pahalgam terror attack
India on Thursday welcomed Afghanistan's rejection of attempts to "create distrust" between the two countries as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had the first-ever interaction with Taliban's acting Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi. Jaishankar also thanked Muttaqi for condemning the Pahalgam terror attack.
In a telephonic conversation on Thursday, Jaishankar also underlined India’s traditional friendship with the Afghan people and reiterated India’s continued support for their development needs.
"Welcomed his firm rejection of recent attempts to create distrust between India and Afghanistan through false and baseless reports," Jaishankar said, without directly referring to a report in a section of the Pakistani media that claimed India had "hired" the Taliban to carry out a "false flag" operation at Pahalgam.
The minister's call to Muttaqi comes days after Afghanistan’s Taliban regime, which New Delhi is yet to officially recognise, condemned the Pahalgam attack, in which 26 people were killed by Pakistan-linked terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir.
Calling it a "good conversation" with the Taliban minister, Jaishankar also wrote on X, "Deeply appreciate his condemnation of the Pahalgam terrorist attack".
He added that during the discussion, he "underlined our (India's) traditional friendship with the Afghan people and continuing support for their development needs. Discussed ways and means of taking cooperation forward".
The conversation comes just days after India and Pakistan agreed to halt military strikes in the wake of Operation Sindoor, which followed the Pahalgam terror attack, an incident condemned by the Kabul regime.
Following the Pahalgam attack, Indian special envoy Anand Prakash, Director General of the Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan Division at the MEA, travelled to Kabul to meet Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi. Their discussions focused on strengthening bilateral political ties, enhancing trade and transit cooperation, and exchanging views on recent regional developments.
Jaishankar's conversation marks the first political-level contact between the two sides since the Taliban captured power in Kabul in August 2021. In January this year, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri met Muttaqi in Dubai.
The last political-level contact before this took place in 1999–2000, when then-External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh was in touch with Taliban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil following the hijacking of Indian Airlines flight IC-814 to Kandahar in December 1999.