Taliban’s Foreign Minister to Visit India Following UNSC Travel Sanctions Easing
India is scheduled to host the Taliban's acting foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, in the upcoming week. This follows the United Nations Security Council's sanctions committee granting a temporary exemption to Muttaqi's long-standing travel restrictions.
A high-ranking representative from the Taliban-led administration in Afghanistan is set to make the first official visit to India since the group assumed power in 2021, following two decades of US military presence.
India is set to join a group of nations, including China and Russia, that have welcomed a representative from the Afghan Taliban.
Muttaqi is one of the Afghan Taliban figures subject to United Nations sanctions, which include an asset freeze and arms embargo that have been in place since 2001.
The leader of the Taliban was scheduled for an inaugural visit to India in August; however, efforts to obtain a waiver for his standing travel ban from the United Nations Security Council were unsuccessful last month.
The UN Security Council has announced that its committee has granted a waiver, permitting him to travel to India from October 9 to October 16.
On September 30, 2025, the Security Council Committee, acting under the authority of resolution 1988 (2011), authorized a travel ban exemption for Amir Khan Muttaqi. This exemption permits him to travel to New Delhi, India, from October 9 to 16, 2025, according to an official statement.
In a media briefing, Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, underscored the diplomatic interactions conducted by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar with Afghanistan’s current leadership. He elaborated on the discussions held and highlighted India’s humanitarian response and assistance provided after the devastating earthquake that hit Afghanistan in August.
Before the Taliban assumed control over Afghanistan, New Delhi and Kabul maintained strong relations. India shut its embassy in Kabul in 2021, yet engaged in discussions with the chief of the Taliban’s political office in Doha during that year.
According to experts, the visit to India carries considerable weight for the Afghan Taliban administration as it seeks to gain legitimacy and forge diplomatic relations.
Reports from Indian and Afghan media indicate that Muttaqi is scheduled to travel to Russia prior to his visit to India.
In July, Russia distinguished itself as the inaugural country to officially acknowledge the Taliban government in Afghanistan, a move reflecting the growing relationship between the Taliban and nations such as China, Qatar, and the UAE.
In August, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi traveled to Kabul for the sixth trilateral foreign ministers’ dialogue with Afghanistan and Pakistan.
