Other recent developments in India have been to dramatically enhance diplomatic and strategic relations with Afghanistan under Taliban leadership through upgrading its technical mission to Kabul into a full-fledged embassy and to participate in higher levels of bilateral relations. Such is happening in the context of poor relations between Taliban and Pakistan which gives India a strategic chance of re-engaging Afghanistan without officially acknowledging the Taliban government.
India declared the promotion of its technical mission in the capital to the embassy level, which marked an important change in the diplomatic relations as Taliban came to power in 2021. Confirmed by the External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar at a meeting with the Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, the move is expected to further enhance the development cooperation in fields of healthcare, infrastructure and capacity-building. India also promised humanitarian assistance such as transportation of ambulances and supplying medical facilities and they were also interested in investing in the mineral and energy field in Afghanistan. In October 2025, Taliban minister Muttaqi was the first Taliban official to visit India since 2021 with a travel exemption granted by the UN Security Council.
The Defence Minister of Afghanistan Mullah Yaqoob, the son of the Taliban founder Mullah Omar, publicly stated that the country of Afghanistan planned to enhance its relations with India in the context of our national interests. Young in an interview with Al Jazeera, Yaqoob denied allegations by Pakistan that India was using Afghanistan soil to wage a proxy war when he claimed such a suggestion to be unfounded, illogical and unacceptable. He stressed that the foreign policy of Afghanistan would not be when it will use its land to attack other states and at the same time promised to keep on a good neighbourliness with Pakistan. Such statements are especially notable since at some point in the history, Yaqoob was a close associate of Islamabad, meaning the Kabul region has looked at its posture differently.
The recent India-Taliban rapprochement is after Pakistan and Afghanistan fired serious border volleys in October 2025 due to Pakistan claiming that Kabul is housing the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). To react to this, the Taliban initiated military actions along the Durand Line resulting in a short but deadly conflict. Eventually, Qatar and Turkiye meditated a ceasefire, and both parties agreed to conduct follow-ups. India denied the involvement claims of Pakistan, and its spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that Pakistan always accuses neighbours of its internal failure and maintained that India was committed to the sovereignty of Afghanistan. Analysts see the outreach by India as being in a wider scheme to balance the growing influence of Pakistan and China in Afghanistan, particularly since Russia was the first nation to officially recognize the Taliban government.
The renewed interest of India is motivated by the geo-political and economic factors. As Afghanistan is estimated to be having almost 3 trillion of the untapped mineral wealth, Indian companies have seen opportunities of mining, energy and infrastructure in Afghanistan. The resumption of the India-Afghanistan Air Freight Corridor also serves interests of trade and connectivity. Although India still holds the position on the necessity of an inclusive government and consideration of human rights in Afghanistan, its pragmatism can be considered as an understanding of the de facto power of the Taliban and the need to recapture a target region that has long been considered critical to the Indian interests.
