Rushali Saha
On May 15, India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar held a telephone conversation with the Taliban’s acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, marking the first ministerial-level contact between India and the Taliban leadership since the latter came to power in August 2021.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Jaishankar appreciated the “good conversation” with Muttaqi and shared that both sides discussed “ways and means of taking cooperation forward.” According to the Taliban readout, the conversation focused on “strengthening bilateral relations, trade, and enhancing diplomatic relations.”
While the Taliban statement made no mention of the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22 or the recent India-Pakistan military clashes, in his post, Jaishankar appreciated the Taliban’s “condemnation of the Pahalgam terrorist attack.” In the immediate aftermath of the attack at Pahalgam, the Taliban condemned the killings and highlighted how such incidents “undermined efforts to ensure regional security and stability” — but fell short of describing it as an act of terrorism.
In a thinly veiled reference to Pakistan, Jaishankar further noted that New Delhi “welcomed his [Muttaqi’s] firm rejection of recent attempts to create distrust between India and Afghanistan through false and baseless reports.” Previously, Pakistani military spokesperson General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry alleged that during India’s Operation Sindoor, several Indian missiles had landed in Afghan territory, a claim that was swiftly dismissed by both New Delhi and the Afghan defense ministry.
Notably, on the same day, Muttaqi organized the fifth round of the China-Pakistan-Afghanistan trilateral talks in Kabul, which focused on closer economic integration and deepening counterterrorism cooperation. Just days later, another informal meeting was held between Muttaqi, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, in Beijing, where they reportedly agreed to extend the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to Afghanistan.
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