Why are India and the Taliban courting each other?

The relationship between India and the Taliban, once marked by caution and mutual distrust, is undergoing a significant transformation and a strategic shift toward deeper engagement.

Last week, the Taliban foreign office described India as a “significant regional and economic partner” following a landmark meeting in Dubai between India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi, the acting Foreign Minister of Afghanistan’s Taliban-led interim government.

“Yes, the talks between India and Afghanistan are very important to us. We give it great importance,” Zabihullah Mujahid, an Afghan Taliban chief spokesperson in Kabul, told TRT World.

This meeting, the highest-level interaction between the two sides since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, has sparked considerable interest and speculation about the motivations and implications of this diplomatic overture.

Both sides appear to be driven by distinct yet interlinked interests.

For India, deeper engagement with the Taliban represents both a “strategic” and “tactical” move rooted in security and economic priorities, says Anil Wadhwa, former Secretary at India’s Ministry of External Affairs.

“This is both a strategic and tactical move by India,” Wadhwa told TRT World. “It ensures that the Taliban government does not act against Indian interests. Additionally, India’s closer relations with the Taliban will also put pressure on Pakistani cross-border hostilities vis-à-vis India and act as a pressure point.”

Pakistan has previously accused India of using Afghan soil to incite cross-border unrest against it. Before the Taliban's takeover, Islamabad alleged that New Delhi operated numerous training camps in Afghanistan, supporting globally outlawed militant groups to orchestrate attacks aimed at destabilising Pakistan. Both India and the pre-Taliban Afghanistan government had denied these charges.

Meanwhile, for the Taliban, engaging with India is a pragmatic bid towards securing international legitimacy, developmental aid, and collaboration in key sectors like education, healthcare, and trade.

“These talks will help expand our trade and import-export with India, which will benefit our economy,” Mujahid said. He clarified that the Taliban’s outreach to India should not be seen in the context of its relation with any other country including Pakistan.

As a landlocked country, Afghanistan largely depends on Pakistan and Iran, two of the main countries it shares a land border with, for international trade. Pakistan has previously allowed aid even from India to Afghanistan to transit through its land route.

However, due to Pakistan’s tense relations with India and its increasing tensions with Afghanistan in recent months, both the Taliban and India have been using Iran’s Chabahar Port as a transit for Indian supplies into Afghanistan.

India’s objectives: Security and stability

India has historically maintained a careful distance from the Taliban, wary of its links to regional rival Pakistan and its potential impact on India’s security. However, the current geopolitical climate, combined with pressing humanitarian and strategic imperatives, appears to have shifted New Delhi’s approach.

Wadhwa says India’s engagement with the Taliban is driven by gaining the trust of the Afghan people.

According to a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) report, more than 15,000 Afghan refugees have settled in India. New Delhi received more than 1,000 Afghan nationals seeking shelter after the Taliban took over.

As the numbers kept growing, the country issued a distinct class of emergency visas for Afghan citizens. Last year, India also announced 1,000 scholarships for Afghan students

Besides this, Afghanistan's national cricket team has trained in India, and their top cricketers have been selected to play in the prestigious Indian Premier League.

India has also invested approximately $3 billion in Afghanistan before the Taliban's takeover in August 2021, financing the construction of the Afghan Parliament in Kabul and the 42 megawatts Salma Dam in Herat province.

However, India had to halt all projects after the Taliban assumed power. Since then, the Taliban government has urged India to complete its unfinished development initiatives. Wadhwa emphasised that “India wants to complete its ongoing developmental projects, some of which were left unfinished.”

Taliban’s outreach: Recognition and development aid

For the Taliban, engaging with India represents a rational move toward securing international legitimacy and aid. No foreign government, including India, officially recognises the Taliban administration in Afghanistan.

“We are hoping that with talks with India, we will build trust, and others can follow suit,” Mujahid reasoned.

“The Taliban requires funding, especially for its developmental projects. Isolated and unrecognised, they see India’s developmental capacity as key for helping the Afghan people,” Wadhwa elucidated.

India and the Taliban have historically shared adversarial relations. During the US invasion of Afghanistan from 2001 to 2021, New Delhi supported the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance.

However, the recent high-level meeting and India’s acceptance of a Taliban representative at the Afghan consulate in Mumbai signal the deepening of ties and opened the potential for New Delhi’s full diplomatic recognition of the Taliban administration in Kabul.

Wadhwa cautioned that accepting a Taliban representative does not equate to formal recognition. “This step ensures a setup for the welfare of Afghan students and nationals in India while taking pressure off the Indian government,” he explained.

Shortly after the landmark Dubai meeting, reports surfaced of the Taliban urging New Delhi to expedite the issuance of visas for Afghan businessmen, patients, and students.

Hafiz Zia Ahmad, deputy spokesperson for Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry, confirmed in a series of posts on X that this request was conveyed by Muttaqi to Misri during their discussions last Wednesday.

Taliban spokesperson Mujahid, meanwhile, reiterated the focus on economic recovery, stating, “Our country is getting better day by day in terms of economy. Years of war and conflict will take time to recover, but we are on the right track.”

Afghanistan's interim foreign ministry said in a statement that in Dubai, the two sides had discussed boosting trade through Chabahar Port in Iran, which New Delhi has been developing for goods to bypass the ports of Karachi and Gwadar in Pakistan.

“Trade through Chabahar will be beneficial for India with the trading nations bordering the Caspian Sea. It will also enable India to ship goods to Taliban-led Afghanistan for both humanitarian and trade purposes,” explained Wadhwa.

Regional security and the Pakistan factor

The warming of India-Taliban relations also coincides with rising tensions between Pakistan and the Taliban, with some analysts contemplating whether this has pushed the Taliban to explore a new partnership.

Tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have increased due to border closures, trade restrictions, air strikes, and the forced repatriation of Afghan refugees, prompting Kabul to seek stronger ties with India.

“This has generated resentment in the hearts of the Taliban regime, which is now looking for other players to help reduce their economic reliance on Pakistan,” journalist Tahir Khan explained in an article in Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper.

On its part, Islamabad says relations with the Taliban have deteriorated because of cross-border terror attacks carried out by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which hides and operates out of Afghanistan.

Taliban spokesperson Mujahid emphasised that these talks are focused solely on Afghanistan and India. “These talks have nothing to do with our current relationship with Pakistan or any other country,” he clarified. “We are looking to better our relationship with India for the benefit of the Afghan people to begin trading and business,” he reiterated.

Earlier this month, India condemned Pakistani air strikes inside Afghanistan, which the interim Taliban administration claimed killed 46 people, including women and children.

“These criticisms were made keeping in mind the harm to villages and children,” Wadhwa said, suggesting that while Pakistan may not welcome the recent India-Taliban interactions, they are unlikely to have a direct impact on the already frosty relations between the two South Asian neighbours.

"India is prioritising its own interests. Relations between New Delhi and Islamabad are already at a low point, and this engagement will not significantly affect the already strained ties between the two nations," he stated.

Diplomatic dialogue: A gradual progress

India’s outreach to the Taliban has not been sudden but has evolved gradually. New Delhi was involved in the Doha Peace Process and was invited to the signing of the US-Taliban peace deal in the Qatari capital in 2020.

Following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, India withdrew its diplomats. However, by August 31, 2021, India held its first official talks with the Taliban when its then Ambassador to Qatar Deepak Mittal met senior Taliban leader Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai in Doha.

“There have been contacts with the Taliban in Doha earlier over the past one and a half years at the joint secretary level. It was the Taliban that reached out to India to complete the unfinished development projects,” Wadhwa revealed.

In June 2022, India reopened its “technical mission” in Kabul and sent special envoy Jitender Pal Singh to oversee humanitarian projects and meet Taliban officials, while New Delhi continued to provide aid such as wheat and medicines.

In 2024, Singh visited Afghanistan twice, the latest in November, meeting top Taliban officials, including acting Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi and acting Defence Minister Mohammad Yaqoob.

Mujahid emphasised the value of ongoing diplomatic engagement, stating, “The more we have diplomatic talks, the better it is for us. It builds trust. Afghanistan is aiming to build better relationships with neighbouring countries; this is our priority.”

Shereena Qazi, Senior Producer, TRT World, also contributed to this report