Taliban foreign minister Amir Muttaqi receives warm welcome in India — What’s on his agenda?

News Network

October 9, 2025

Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi reached New Delhi on Thursday, marking the first high-level visit from Kabul since the Taliban came to power in August 2021 after the fall of Ashraf Ghani’s government.

What’s on Muttaqi’s agenda in India

During his six-day visit, Muttaqi is set to hold extensive discussions with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal welcomed the Afghan minister. In a post on X, he said, “Warm welcome to Afghan Foreign Minister, Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi on his arrival in New Delhi. We look forward to engaging discussions with him on bilateral relations and regional issues.”

Muttaqi’s itinerary includes visits to the Darul Uloom Deoband seminary and the Taj Mahal. He is also expected to meet business groups and members of the Afghan community in India.

Zia Ahmad Takal, head of public relations at Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry, told Tolo News that the discussions in India will cover “expanding relations between Kabul and New Delhi”.

Muttaqi arrived in India after participating in the 7th Moscow Format Consultations on Afghanistan on October 7. Delegates from Afghanistan, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan attended.

UN travel ban lifted temporarily

The Afghan foreign minister was initially scheduled to visit New Delhi last month, but his trip was postponed due to a UN Security Council (UNSC) travel ban.

The UNSC approved a temporary exemption on September 30, allowing Muttaqi to visit India from October 9 to 16. The exemption lifted restrictions from sanctions originally imposed in 2001, which included a travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo.

India-Taliban contacts

India has not formally recognised the Taliban government. Jaishankar had a phone conversation with Muttaqi on May 15, the highest-level contact since the Taliban’s takeover. In January, the Taliban described India as an “important” regional and economic power following talks between Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Muttaqi.

While a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not confirmed, Indian officials will accord full protocol to the visiting foreign minister. The focus of the visit remains on strengthening diplomatic and economic ties, engaging with business groups and discussing regional stability.

Muttaqi’s visit marks a rare high-level engagement with India since the Taliban assumed power and coincides with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s visit to Mumbai for trade talks with PM Modi.

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UN condemns Israeli regime’s ‘organized torture’ against Palestinians

News Network

November 30,2025

The United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT) has condemned the Israeli regime for enforcing a policy of “organized torture” against Palestinians.

In a report published on Friday, CAT stated that the occupying regime enforces a deliberate policy of “organized and widespread torture and ill-treatment” against Palestinian abductees, particularly since October 7, 2023, when Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza.

The committee expressed “deep concern over repeated severe beatings, dog attacks, electrocution, water-boarding, use of prolonged stress positions [and] sexual violence” inflicted on Palestinians.

Palestinian prisoners were degraded by “being made to act like animals or being urinated on,” systematically denied medical care, and subjected to excessive restraints, “in some cases resulting in amputation,” the report added.

CAT also condemned the routine application of “unlawful combatants law” to justify the prolonged detention without trial of thousands of Palestinian men, women, and children.

More than 10,000 Palestinians, including women and children, are currently held in Israeli prisons, according to Palestinian and international human rights groups, with 3,474 Palestinians in “administrative detention,” meaning they are imprisoned without trial for indefinite periods.

The report highlighted the “high proportion of children who are currently detained without charge or on remand,” noting that while Israel sets the age of criminal responsibility at 12, even younger children have been abducted.

Children designated as security prisoners face severe restrictions on family contact, may be subjected to solitary confinement, and are denied access to education, in clear violation of international law.

The committee further suggested that Israel’s policies across the Occupied Territories constitute collective torture against the Palestinian population.

“A range of policies adopted by Israel in the course of its continued unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading living conditions for the Palestinian population,” the report said.

On Thursday, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas condemned the systematic killing and torture of Palestinian abductees in Israeli prisons, urging international action to halt these abuses.

Citing human rights data, Hamas stated that 94 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli prisons since the start of Tel Aviv’s genocidal war on Gaza.

“This reflects an organized criminal approach that has turned these prisons into direct killing grounds to eliminate our people,” the resistance movement said.

Hamas called on the international community, the UN, and human rights organizations to immediately pressure Israel to end crimes against prisoners and uphold their rights as guaranteed by all international conventions and norms.

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