Diplomatic Relations: India, Taliban Meets In Qatar

• India has made the announcement of its first formal diplomatic meeting with the Taliban; their first official diplomatic discussion since the extremists group seized power in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of United States Forces.

EkohotBlog reports that India’s ambassador to Qatar, Deepak Mittal, met with the head of the Taliban’s political office, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai. The Taliban requested the meeting which held in Doha, according to the Indian Foreign Ministry.

It was revealed that Mittal and Stanikzai discussed the safety, security, and early return of Indians stranded in Afghanistan and travel plans for Afghan minorities who want are willing to visit India.

The India ambassador equally seized the opportunity to raise the suspicion of New Delhi on Afghanistan being used as a base for terrorism, noting that it is a shared concern across the globe.

“The Taliban Representative assured the Ambassador that these issues would be positively addressed,” the foreign ministry said.

Prior to the meeting, there have been reports in India that Stanikzai said the Taliban were interested in continuing Afghanistan’s political, economic, and cultural relations with India. This is the first time the group will discuss Kabul-New Delhi’s relationship since they seized power.

New Delhi did not have any established diplomatic relations with the Taliban when they were last in power in the 1990s, due to the militant group’s ties to Pakistan.

Harsh Pant, the head of the strategic studies program at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi described India’s meeting with the Taliban as a “necessity,”

“If eventually, the Taliban succeed in bringing together an inclusive government, with various stakeholders, then there is no reason why India would not move forward with a new momentum in its engagement,” Pant said.

He stressed that the issue of recognizing the Taliban as the legitimate power in control of Afghanistan won’t emerge anytime soon.

“For the foreseeable future, it would largely be an engagement to assess where Taliban might be going with their agenda,” Pant said.

“I think most of the countries would be waiting and watching as to what the Taliban actually do on the ground.”