New Delhi: Kabul will soon send its diplomats to India as part of “step-by-step” efforts to improve bilateral relations, Afghan Foreign Minister Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said Friday even as he asserted the Taliban will not allow anyone to use Afghan soil against other countries.
Muttaqi, who landed in New Delhi Thursday on a six-day trip, is the first senior Taliban minister to visit India after the group seized power four years back. India has not yet recognised the Taliban set up.
In an interaction with a small group of journalists, after holding wide-ranging talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, the Afghan foreign minister invited Indian businesses to invest in his country’s mining, minerals and energy sectors.
Muttaqi also pitched for India and Afghanistan joining hands to remove obstacles for development of the Chabahar port in Iran in view of the Trump administration bringing it under sanctions.
The Afghan foreign minister’s visit to India assumed greater significance as it came at a time when both India and Afghanistan are having frosty relations with Pakistan over a range of issues including cross-border terrorism.
Muttaqi said Kabul will soon send its diplomats to New Delhi.
“The foreign minister (S Jaishankar) said you can send diplomats to New Delhi now. When we go back, we will select people and send them,” he said.
In his meeting with Muttaqi, Jaishankar announced the upgrading of India’s technical mission in Kabul to the status of an embassy.
Asked if the Taliban regime will appoint an ambassador, Muttaqi said: “we will now send diplomats and gradually the contacts will increase.” Till now, the Afghan missions in India have officials who were largely appointed by the previous Ashraf Ghani government.
To a question on whether the Indian government will hand over the Afghan embassy premises in New Delhi to the Taliban regime, the foreign minister shot back: “It is with Afghanistan; it belongs to us.”
Muttaqi said the ties between India and Afghanistan are witnessing steady progress in the last four years.
“This is my first visit to India and it was decided that India will upgrade its technical mission in Kabul to a diplomatic mission and our diplomats will come to New Delhi. Gradually, the goal is to take things to normal,” he said.
The Afghan foreign minister said his country will not allow its territory to be used to “threaten or harm others” and asserted that there is no presence of any terror group including Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba in Afghanistan.
“Not even one inch of soil is controlled by anyone other than the Islamic Emirate. These groups and tanzeems are not present in Afghanistan, they have left Afghanistan in these four years. We finished those against whom we conducted operations,” he said.
“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has proven over the course of the last four years that its territory will not be allowed to be used against others,” Muttaqi said.
There have been concerns in New Delhi over the possibility of use of Afghan territory by terrorist groups to launch attacks.
Against the backdrop of US President Donald Trump asking the Taliban to hand over the strategic Bagram airbase to US forces, Muttaqi said Kabul will not accept any foreign military presence in the country.
“Afghanistan has a long history of safeguarding its independence and sovereignty and combating occupations. Afghanistan will not allow military interventions or military presence of anyone,” he said.
Muttaqi also criticised Pakistan’s approach towards Afghanistan while responding to a question on reports of explosions in Kabul on Thursday night.
The foreign minister said Pakistan had a hand in an attack in the border areas and that it was yet to be ascertained how the explosion took place in Kabul.
“Afghanistan is an independent country in this region and when peace has come there, why are others troubled? Afghan people too have rights. The peace, benefits and progress of the last four years should be strengthened,” he said.
“Just as we want good relations with India, we want good ties with Pakistan. But these relations can only be built from both sides, it can’t be done by one side,” he said.
The visiting minister said India and Afghanistan should work together to address hurdles in development of the Chabahar port.
“Both Afghanistan and India should try to remove all problems and obstacles in this route, because there are some restrictions on this path from America,” he said.
“Afghanistan and India should jointly talk with America and also talk among ourselves and derive the maximum benefits from this route, this is the need for both countries and we understand this need because trade between Afghanistan and India last year was more than USD 1 billion,” he said.
“If routes are closed, trade will not decrease, not increase, and we should open all routes, including the Wagah land border,” he said.
Muttaqi also pitched for trade between India and Afghanistan through the Wagah border transit point.
“The Wagah route is the shortest for Afghanistan and trade was conducted through this route in the past. Pakistan and India should not close this route because economic, human and trade issues should not be mixed with political issues,” he said.
“This is the right and the need of the people, this is a route for trade and should not be closed because Wagah is close (to Afghanistan) and it is cheaper to transport goods between Afghanistan and India through this route,” he said.
“It is our request to both countries that this route should be opened for starting and increasing trade,” he added.
PTI
