Taliban send diplomat to India as ties with Pakistan sour

A Taliban-appointed diplomat has arrived in India and is expected to take charge of Afghanistan’s embassy in New Delhi, Indian media reported, marking the first such move since the Taliban returned to power in 2021 and signalling a further warming of their ties with India.

Indian media said Noor Ahmad Noor, a senior official at the Taliban foreign ministry, arrived in India this week and is expected to begin work as chargé d’affaires at Afghanistan’s embassy.

Neither India’s foreign ministry nor the Taliban have officially confirmed the appointment. Indian media said the diplomat has not yet formally submitted his letter of credentials to New Delhi, and the pre-Taliban tricolour flag of Afghanistan continues to fly over the embassy and other Afghan diplomatic missions in India.

If confirmed, the move would mark the first time a Taliban diplomat has been sent to India to administer Afghanistan’s embassy since the Taliban seized power in August 2021.

India has gradually expanded engagement with the Taliban despite withholding formal recognition. Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar previously said New Delhi was considering upgrading diplomatic relations with the Taliban to ambassadorial level following talks with Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.

The reported appointment comes amid sharply deteriorating relations between the Taliban and Pakistan, once one of their closest regional backers. Tensions have escalated over security concerns and border disputes, with all major commercial crossings between Afghanistan and Pakistan remaining closed for nearly three months, severely disrupting trade.

India’s engagement with the Taliban has intensified as those tensions with Islamabad have grown. Over the past three months, New Delhi has hosted several senior Taliban officials, including the Taliban ministers for foreign affairs, commerce and public health.

Analysts say India is positioning itself as an alternative regional partner for the Taliban at a time when the Taliban’s relations with Pakistan are at their most strained in years.

“The Taliban have struggled to balance relations between India and Pakistan,” said political analyst Hatif Mukhtar. “In the long term, we are likely to see further deterioration in Afghanistan–Pakistan relations, and the consequences could be damaging for both sides.”

India and Pakistan are long-standing regional rivals, and New Delhi’s growing engagement with the Taliban is being closely watched in Islamabad. Analysts say the Taliban’s outreach to India reflects both economic necessity and shifting regional calculations as relations with Pakistan worsen.

While India has emphasised humanitarian assistance and regional stability in its dealings with the Taliban, officials have remained cautious, stopping short of formal recognition and framing contacts as pragmatic engagement.