Muttaqi’s visit will be the first high-level delegation from Kabul to New Delhi since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021.
Photo: IANS
Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi will be on an official visit to India from October 9-16, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) confirmed on Friday.
Muttaqi’s visit will be the first high-level delegation from Kabul to New Delhi since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021.
Advertisement
The United Nations Security Council has approved a temporary exemption on international travel restrictions for Muttaqi, allowing him to stay in India for a week beginning October 9.
Advertisement
Addressing his weekly media briefing in New Delhi, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the Ministry of External Affairs will continue to share updates regarding the visit.
“All of you would have seen the exemption that has been granted by the UN Security Council Committee for the travel of the Afghan Foreign Minister to New Delhi from October 9 to 16. This public information is there in the public domain. We shall keep you updated in this regard,” he said.
“We have been having a conversation with the interim government in Afghanistan. You would have seen the telecon that had taken place some time back between the External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar, and Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi,” the MEA spokesperson said.
The conversation between the two ministers took place earlier this year, in May.
“We also had a conversation between the Joint Secretary in charge and his counterparts on the Afghan side,” Jaiswal said.
In the wake of a recent earthquake that affected parts of Afghanistan, India extended humanitarian support by swiftly delivering aid. “Recently, when the earthquake happened, the same day, we were able to transport relief material to Kunar province, and subsequently, we sent more relief material via Chabahar,” he said.
The Afghanistan Foreign Minister’s visit is part of diplomatic engagements taking place between New Delhi and the Taliban regime over the past many months, including Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri’s meeting with Muttaqi in January, earlier this year.
Several key officials from Kabul have visited New Delhi in the past few months, including Afghanistan’s Deputy Minister of Medicine and Food, Hamdullah Zahid, who was in the Indian capital last month for the 11th edition of the International Exhibition on Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare.
The UNSC on Thursday approved travel ban exemptions for the Foreign Minister of Afghanistan to visit India from October 9 to 16.
Under Security Council resolution 1988 (2011), certain individuals linked to the Taliban are subject to travel bans. However, the resolution allows the Council to grant exemptions for official duties or medical reasons.
“On 30 September 2025, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1988 (2011) approved an exemption to the travel ban for Amir Khan Motaqi (TAi . 026) to visit New Delhi, India, from 9 to 16 October 2025,” the United Nations Security Council wrote in a statement.
Advertisement
