Monitoring Desk: On May 15 evening, Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar called Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, thanking him for the Af-Indo (Afghanistan-India) growing relationship. This is also the first political-level contact and conversation since the Taliban captured power in Kabul in August 2021. In January this year, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri met Muttaqi in Dubai.
Jaishankar, through his social media platforms (X and Facebook), said, “Welcomed his (Muttaqi) firm rejection of recent attempts to create distrust between India and Afghanistan through false and baseless reports. He was referring to Pakistan’s statement that one Indian missile flew over Pakistan and landed in Afghanistan during the Indian attack on Pakistan (May 6- 7 night).
Muttaqi on his social media platform X stated that the discussion between them (Jaishankar and Muttaqi) focused on enhancing bilateral relations, promoting trade, and upgrading diplomatic engagement between the two countries, and expressed hope for further strengthening relations.
It is pertinent to mention that DG ISPR Lt Gen Ahmed, during his press briefing to international media, said that one of Indian’s missiles crossed over Pakistan and landed in Afghanistan, and India also attacked its own side of Punjab with missiles. On May 10, a spokesperson for Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defense, Inayatullah Khawarizmi, denied Pakistan’s statement that Indian missiles struck Afghan soil. Speaking to Hurriyat Radio, Khawarizmi stated there was no credibility to such accusations. “There is no truth to such claims,” he added, as reported by Business Standard.
Pravin Sawhney, a former Indian army officer and defence analyst, in his May 16 talks “Whither India’s Foreign Policy,” stated that only two countries out of 195 in the world stood with India, and they were Israel and Afghanistan.
Pakistan has wonderful relations with Afghanistan, and Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar visited Kabul recently and talked with his counterpart Muttaqi about the usage of Afghan soil against Pakistan. In a press conference just after the Indian attack on Pakistan, Foreign Minister Dar, when asked Afghanistan’s role in harbouring terrorists against Pakistan, he (Ishaq Dar), discouraged the reporter and said that Afghanistan was a close friend and such a question could harm bilateral relations between the two countries.
