Four years since the Taliban returned to power in Kabul , Afghanistan’s foreign minister is in Delhi, a move which Rakesh Sood, former ambassador to that country, described as pragmatic.

“This is a step forward … There were signs of this happening right from the beginning of this year. Initially we closed our embassy because we had not established any contacts with the Taliban. In fact, they had reached out to us (but India did not engage with them),” Sood, who has also served in Islamabad, told StratNews Global on The Gist.

He said after the Taliban established their international office in Doha, Qatar in 2013, the United States, Russia, Germany, Norway, Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, UAE, started engaging with them, particularly with Mullah Baradar, who was then based there. Baradar i

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