Taliban government reaches out to India, embassy to train Afghan diplomats in Kabul

India plans to hold a four-day training programme for Afghan Foreign Ministry officials in Kabul beginning Tuesday. The news regarding the training was issued by the Taliban government’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs through a memo which said that the Indian embassy in Kabul will provide the training from March 14-17.

The development is significant as this shows that India and the Taliban interim government in Afghanistan, which otherwise remains on global sanctions, plan to strengthen bilateral ties.

It was just last week that India sent wheat to Afghanistan through the Chabahar port in Iran and not via road through Pakistan. The measure allows India, Iran and Afghanistan to work together and strengthen trade ties.

The memo by the Institute of Diplomacy, MOFA Afghanistan, says that the training programme for the Afghan officials revolves around the topic “immersing with Indian thoughts”.

India offers a number of capacity building programmes for friendly countries through the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme run by the Ministry of External Affairs.

In February last year, 80 young Afghan cadets who had graduated from various military institutions in India were offered another course to study English communication for business and office purposes under ITEC.

With the regime change in Afghanistan in August 2021, India has taken a studied and flexible stance regarding Afghanistan’s pariah Taliban government in a complex and dynamic South Asia where Pakistan has been meddling in the internal affairs of its neighbours with a view to extending its influence. Even as Afghanistan-Pakistan relations have been going downhill with violence erupting on their common border, India and Afghanistan have maintained a cordial relationship that works for the common Afghan.

In mid-2022, New Delhi had re-started its Kabul embassy by deploying “technical staff” which allowed the country to open up dialogue with the Taliban government.

India’s efforts in Afghanistan have focused on humanitarian aid as well as supporting the people through medicines, vaccines and food. In June 2022, India sent considerable aid for the Afghans in 2022 when the quake wreaked havoc killing more than 1,000 people becoming one of the first countries in the region to respond to the humanitarian tragedy.

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