India reaffirmed its “longstanding ties” with Afghanistan and the Afghan people, a day before the fifth anniversary of the Islamic Emirate’s return to power in Kabul.
At a bi-weekly media briefing on Friday, India’s Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said New Delhi had maintained regular engagement with Afghanistan over the past year, including several ministerial visits.
“In the last few months and over a year now, we have had several engagements and several ministerial visits from Afghanistan to India and these have led to strengthening of partnerships in several areas including in development cooperation, trade, connectivity”.
“We have longstanding ties with Afghanistan and the Afghan people, and we look forward to strengthening these ties,” he added.
Jaiswal was responding to a question about reported plans by the Afghan Embassy in New Delhi to hold an event marking the IEA’s return to power in August 2021.
India’s foreign ministry did not confirm whether any representative would be present.
Several senior officials from the Islamic Emirate have visited India over the past year, including Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, Industry and Commerce Minister Nooruddin Azizi, Public Health Minister Noor Jalal Jalali and Agriculture Minister Ataullah Omari.
