New Delhi, India – As the Taliban returned to power in August 2021 following the chaotic withdrawal of US forces, which triggered the collapse of the Western-backed government in Kabul, India was forced to shut its embassy and hurriedly pull out its diplomats and citizens.

More than four years later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government has rolled out a red carpet for an Afghan delegation led by the Taliban administration’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in the capital, New Delhi.

The Afghan foreign minister’s weeklong trip – the first official visit by a Taliban leader – is being billed as groundbreaking. Muttaqi, who remains on the United Nations sanctions list, arrived in India after receiving a temporary travel exemption from the world body.

India’s reset

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