Taliban administrators seen in viral image greeting Afghan cadets returning from India

"The MoD, Afghanistan, encouraged by our humanitarian aid and placement of our technical team in Indian Embassy, Kabul, had requested EoI kabul through an offical letter on 25.06.22 requsting direct communication with the Afghan cadets trained in IMA/ NDA, India. Govt agencies including MEA facilitated talks between MoD afghanistan and Afghan candets and they finally returned after assurances of safety and employment from the Afghan Minister of Defence on 28.07.22," the Ministey of Defence, Afghanistan, said in a statement on returning of  Afghan cadets trained in India.

Afghanistan is currently ruled by Taliban forces which were backed by Pakistan but the latest image signifies something geopolitically advantageous for India which has remained engaged with Afghanistan even after the Taliban took over.

The group occupied Kabul last year on Aug 15.

On humanitarian grounds, the Indian government tried to aid Afghanistan on several occasions even after the Taliban came to power.

Meanwhile, India renewed its commitment to assist Afghan people in their "difficult times" during a conference on Afghanistan earlier this week in Tashkent.

"India did participate in the event. This is in continuation of our efforts to engage with the international community on issues relating to Afghanistan," External affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi was quoted as saying by The Telegraph.

"During the conference, India reiterated its commitment to assist the Afghan people in these difficult times and provide them humanitarian assistance," he said during his weekly media briefing.

Earlier this month, a team led by a senior official from the Ministry of External Affairs met Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Mottaqi.

This was the first official visit of an Indian delegation to the country since the Taliban came to power.

J P Singh, Joint Secretary in charge of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran (PAI) in the MEA, led the Indian team. In the past, he has met Taliban officials in Doha, Qatar, reported The Indian Express.

Taliban Foreign Ministry spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi, who tweeted a photograph of the meeting, had said diplomatic relations between Afghanistan and India, bilateral trade, and humanitarian assistance were discussed.

Mottaqi, Balkhi said, welcomed the first delegation from the MEA and the Indian government, and called it a “good start” between the two countries. He thanked India for its recent humanitarian and health assistance to Afghanistan.