Jaishankar's First Talk with Taliban Minister

Muttaqi sought facilitation in issuing Indian visas for Afghan traders and patients and called for the release and repatriation of Afghan prisoners held in India.

India on Thursday welcomed the Afghan Taliban regime rejecting attempts to “create mistrust” between the two countries during External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's first conversation with Taliban's Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.

The phone conversation between Jaishankar and Muttaqi was a follow-up to the meeting between the Taliban's Foreign Minister and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri in Dubai in January and came against the backdrop of tensions between India and Pakistan. It was also the highest-level contact between the Indian government and the Taliban since they took over Afghanistan in August 2021.

Jaishankar said in a post on social media, "Had a good conversation with Afghanistan's Acting Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi this evening. I deeply appreciate his condemnation of the Pahalgam terror attack." He referred to the April 22 terror attack in which 26 civilians were killed, following which India launched Operation Sindoor to target terror infrastructure in Pakistan-controlled areas.