India strengthens ties with Taliban-led Afghanistan, navigating complex geopolitics and humanitarian aid while facing regional challenges.

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — India is upgrading its technical mission in Kabul to a full embassy, India’s foreign minister announced Friday after meeting his Afghanistan counterpart in New Delhi. The announcement was made during the first high-level diplomatic engagement since the Taliban seized power in 2021 after two decades of U.S. military presence.

The Taliban rulers of Afghanistan are international pariahs. But after a visit to India and the promise of normalised relations, that may be about to change.

Although India has not extended diplomatic recognition to the Kabul regime, the upgrade of the bilateral relationship opens a new chapter in its ties with Afghanistan, and comes at a time when relations between the Taliban regime and Pakistan, which supported and sustained the Taliban for decades, have deteriorated significantly.

Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir has issued a direct nuclear warning to India, claiming that the country’s “geographical immunity” would be shattered if war breaks out. In a fiery speech, Munir described India’s security as a “misconception,

India is hosting the Taliban minister during a high profile but controversial visit as it seeks to upgrade its diplomatic ties with Afghanistan’s hardline Islamist regime

Taliban’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Amir Khan Muttaqi visiting India was seen as a regional security threat by Pakistan, earlier reports had claimed

Speaking at Pakistan Military Academy in Abbottabad’s Kakul, Field Marshal Munir said it is ‘disconcerting that Afghan soil is being used for terrorism in Pakistan’.

A men-only press conference with the Taliban foreign minister in New Delhi drew sharp rebuke from Indian media, forcing the religious hardline group to also invite female journalists.

Akhtar was referring to the restrictions imposed upon girls and women in Afghanistan under the Taliban regime, which includes ban on obtaining education beyond the sixth grade, and seeking employment.