For the first time, the Taliban has appointed an ambassador for the Afghanistan Embassy in India. This has been confirmed by a top Taliban leader. According to the Taliban, this diplomatic representative Qadir Shah has not been sent from Kabul, he was working with the embassy. Taliban say that this will establish better relations with India.
This is a confidence building step as well as a better way to have better relations with India. Government of India, which did not recognize the new arrangement in Kabul even though it reopened its embassy in Kabul in June last year. It is not yet clear whether this decision has been officially communicated to the Government of India.
After India opened the Kabul embassy, the Taliban wanted its ambassador to be posted in New Delhi. The Taliban’s Foreign Ministry had requested for the posting of its ambassador for the first time in July last year. The Afghanistan embassy in India is still run by Ambassador Farid Mamundzai, who was appointed by the Ashraf Ghani government.
On Sunday, Farid Mamundzai rebuked the Afghan media in a Facebook post. Mamundzai assured the Afghans that the embassy is still working with full transparency to address their concerns. India, like the rest of the international community, has not recognized the Taliban government in Kabul but has sent relief aid to Afghanistan.
India has regularly sent relief material, including wheat, to Afghanistan over the past 18 months. Recently, India had announced to provide humanitarian aid to Afghanistan through Chabahar port in Iran. This port has been used in the past to send aid to Afghanistan.
