At present, Afghan Foreign Minister Mottaki is on a six-day visit to India.

On October 10, local time, Indian Foreign Minister Sujetin announced at a meeting in New Delhi with Afghan Foreign Minister Mutaki that India had restored full diplomatic relations with Afghanistan and upgraded its technical delegation in Kabul to an embassy in Afghanistan.

This is the highest level diplomatic interaction between the two countries since the Taliban regained power in 2021, and also marks an important shift in India¡¯s ¡°circumstancial diplomacy.¡±

It is remarkable that Mutaki¡¯s visit coincided with the tense situation on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, making the visit more sensitive and quantitative.

For the first time in four years.

On the same day, Sujetin told Mutaqi that India was fully committed to safeguarding Afghanistan¡¯s sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence.

He thanked Mutaki for inviting Indian companies to participate in mining projects in Afghanistan and introduced India¡¯s medical and health assistance to Afghanistan, including 20 ambulances, state-of-the-art medical equipment and anti-cancer drugs.

Mutaqi called India Afghanistan's "close friend" and said the Afghan government would also send diplomats to New Delhi, hoping the visit would improve relations between the two countries.

Mutaqi, one of the high-ranking Taliban officials on the UN sanctions list, was temporarily exempted from a travel ban by the UN Security Council, leading Afghan diplomatic and trade officials on a visit to India on September 9.

This was the first official visit of senior Afghan officials to India since the Taliban regained power in 2021, during which the Afghan delegation also held talks with Indian businessmen.

India and Afghanistan have always had close relations. But as early as the 1990s, when the Taliban first came to power, India refused to recognize its regime and instead supported the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance.

After the Taliban regime was overthrown in 2001, India restarted its embassy in Kabul and invested more than $3 billion in infrastructure, education, medical care and other fields, becoming one of Afghanistan's most important development partners.

However, in 2021, with the withdrawal of U.S. troops and the return of the Taliban to power, India once again closed its embassies and consulates in Afghanistan and stopped issuing visas.

It was not until June 2022 that India returned to Kabul in the name of a "technical delegation" to resume contacts starting with trade and humanitarian assistance.

Over the past year, the two sides have continued to interact with secret diplomacy through regional forums.

Last November, India allowed the Taliban to appoint a special envoy in New Delhi and open a consulate in Mumbai. In January this year, senior officials of the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs met with Mottaki in Dubai, and the Indian special envoy to Afghanistan visited Kabul in April.

Today, Mutaqi¡¯s visit to India marks the most direct and substantial diplomatic contact between the two countries since 2021.

Conflict of influence

At present, about ten countries, including China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan and Turkey, have embassies in Kabul, but only Russia officially recognizes the Taliban government.

Analysts pointed out that behind the warming of relations, India and Afghanistan have their own considerations.

For India, this move is both a diplomatic adventure and a strategic layout.

As relations with neighboring Pakistan deteriorate and concerns about the influence of other adversaries in Afghanistan deepen, India is reassessing its policy towards the Taliban to avoid becoming passive in the regional game.

¡°India¡¯s contacts with the Taliban are realistic and this visit continues this tradition, marking a new phase in the relationship between the two countries,¡± said the Indian scholar Hash Pante.

At the same time, India is also alert to the security risks in Afghanistan, paying special attention to the activities of the Islamic State, Al Qaeda and other anti-Indian armed forces.

The Taliban have promised not to allow Afghan territory to be used for terrorist activities against India.

From the perspective of Afghanistan, Mottaki's trip aims to strengthen economic and diplomatic ties with New Delhi and show the Taliban's attitude of breaking isolation and integrating into the region.

Mottaki invited Indian companies to invest in Afghanistan's mining industry and called for open borders to promote direct trade between the two countries.

In addition, Mutaqi also spoke to Pakistan during his visit, accusing the latter of creating tensions in border areas.

"The Taliban are pursuing a balanced diplomacy, trying to establish cooperative relations with past hostile countries, which coincides with India's pragmatic line," said Praveen Donthi, an analyst at the International Crisis Group.

Nevertheless, most observers believe that India remains cautious about re-establishing relations and that, under the influence of historical memory, domestic political and international pressure, the cooperation between the two sides remains strategic for the short term.

Trump pressure

It is worth noting that India is not the only one seeking to strengthen "contact" with Afghanistan.

Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump pressured Afghanistan to ¡°return¡± the Bagram air base, otherwise it would face serious consequences.

Bagram Air Force Base, located on the outskirts of Kabul, is the most important combat and logistics hub after the US military launched the Afghanistan War in 2001.

However, Afghanistan's neighboring countries, including India, unanimously oppose the reconstruction or deployment of foreign military facilities in Afghanistan.

On the 7th of this month, Mutaqi travelled to Russia to attend the ¡°Moscow Model¡± conference on Afghanistan, where Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Iran and Central Asian countries attended.The participants issued a joint statement reaffirming their ¡°solid support for Afghanistan¡¯s construction of an independent, united and peaceful country¡± and expressly opposed the deployment of military infrastructure in and around Afghanistan by external forces.

Author: An Zheng, Liberation Daily