India has sent a team of foreign ministry officials to Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul for talks with senior members of the ruling Taliban, the ministry said on Thursday, the first such meeting since the chaotic US withdrawal last year.
Poverty and hunger have rocketed in the strife-torn nation since the Taliban took power last year after the United States withdrew.
“The Indian team will meet the senior members of the Taliban, and hold discussions on India’s humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan,” the ministry said in a statement.
The officials would oversee delivery of humanitarian assistance and visit areas targeted by Indian-backed programs or projects, it added.
India has donated about 20,000 tons of wheat, 13 tons of medicines, 500,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine and winter clothing, with more medicine and foodgrain on the way, it said.
The South Asian nation pulled its officials out of Afghanistan last August and closed its embassy, although New Delhi is keen to retain ties with the country where its arch-enemy, Pakistan, wields considerable influence.
Last month the ministry said it had no information on when the embassy would re-open.
In the Friday sermons of today (April 26, 2024), Sheikh-ul-Islam Mawlana Abdol-Hamid, the Sunni Friday…
Shaikh-ul-Islam Mawlana Abdol-Hamid, in his Friday sermon in Zahedan today (April 19th, 2024), described the…
Sheikh ul-Islam Maulana Abdulhamid, today (April 12, 2024), during the Friday prayer ceremony in Zahedan...
Sheikh-ul-Islam Maulana Abdul Hamid, today (April 10, 2024) at the Eid al-Fitr ceremony in Zahedan,…
Referring to the anniversary of holding the referendum after the victory of the 1979 revolution,…
The most influential Iranian Sunni leader referred to new round of awakening and love among…