TEHRAN -- India’s renewed engagement with the Taliban administration in Afghanistan reflects a pragmatic shift by prioritizing interests over earlier ideological reservations.

India’s reset with the Taliban comes at a time when Afghanistan and Pakistan have ongoing conflict amid deadly border skirmishes following explosions in Kabul on October 9, which Afghan foreign ministry blamed on Pakistan. Islamabad accuses the Taliban in Kabul of harboring the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group, often referred to as the Pakistani Taliban. TTP has emerged as one of the biggest national security threats in Pakistan.

India has restored full diplomatic relations with Afghanistan and upgraded its Technical Mission in Kabul to an embassy, India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar announced in October. The announcement followed Afghan Foreign Minister Mowlavi Amir Khan Muttaqi’s six-day visit to India.

Muttaqi’s visit followed restoration of flights between the two sides and Jaishankar welcomed Muttaqi’s invitation to Indian companies to explore mineral deposits in Afghanistan and boost trade.

The Indian embassy in Kabul was downgraded four years ago amid fighting between the Taliban and the government headed by Ashraf Ghani. The Taliban are expected to send two diplomats to New Delhi this month.

Pakistan and Afghanistan signed a ceasefire agreement in Doha, that was followed by four rounds of talks in Istanbul aimed at cementing the ceasefire towards a long-term peace. There have been some limited gains during these talks, but overall, they’ve struggled to produce a lasting, workable solution.

With the ongoing peace negotiation, the 2,600-kilometer border between the two nations has remained unstable and mainly closed. Now the landlocked Afghanistan is leaning more heavily on trade routes through Iran -- specifically Chabahar Port -- for trade with India and Central Asia.

In May 2024, Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization and privately-owned India Ports Global Ltd (IPGL) signed a 10-year agreement involving a $120 million investment for the development and operations at the Shahid Beheshti Terminal.

Meanwhile, Nooruddin Aziz, the acting minister of industry and commerce of Afghanistan, has called for enhanced cooperation and joint investment with Iran. He made the remarks at the Iran-Afghanistan Joint Economic Commission meeting held on Saturday in the city of Hirmand, Sistan-Baluchestan Province.

According to Azizi, the Chabahar-Milak railway and highway projects are being advanced to strengthen the infrastructure.

Sanctions waiver

On Oct. 30, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs announced that the United States has granted India a six-month extension to the sanctions waiver for operations at Iran’s Chabahar Port. Issued under the provisions of the Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act (IFCA), the waiver allows India to continue developing and utilizing the port without attracting secondary U.S. sanctions. Strategically, the waiver remains crucial for maintaining India’s access to Afghanistan through an alternative corridor than via Pakistan.

Worth mentioning is that in 2019 India managed to gain exemption from the sanctions on Iran’s oil and the two agreed to pay each other via their national currencies. Washington had reimposed sanctions on Iran in November 2018 during U.S. President Donald Trump’s first presidency, when the U.S. pulled out of the landmark nuclear deal between Iran and seven other countries.

Reports indicate that India has restarted importing crude from Iran. Data from India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry showed the country imported Iranian crude worth $111 million in June. In addition to crude, India imported $94 million worth of Iranian petroleum products between January and July this year

Pakistan-India bombings

Twin bombings a day apart rocked capitals of India and Pakistan within 24 hours. On Monday night (November 10) a car explosion in New Delhi killed at least 10 people and injured more than 30 others. The car went into flames near the city’s historic 17th century Red Fort, or Lal Qila, which is a symbol of India’s independence and a popular area for tourists.

On Tuesday afternoon, a suicide bomber self-detonated next to a police car in Islamabad killing at least 12 and wounding at least 27. Pakistan has also accused Afghanistan of involvement, although TTP has denied responsibility. The leader of the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar group, a splinter faction of the TTP, claimed responsibility, the Associated Press reported.

Russia on Wednesday strongly condemned “terrorist attacks” in Pakistan and India, calling for greater international cooperation in combating extremism.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Moscow “condemns in the strongest terms” the bombings, adding “Russia invariably advocates for an uncompromising fight against terrorism”.

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi claimed the attack was “carried out by Indian-backed elements and Afghan Taliban proxies.” India has denied involvement.

“We are in a state of war,” Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said in a post on X that did not name India and blamed the Taliban government in Afghanistan. 

India-Afghanistan trade

Before the return of Taliban in August 2021, the trade between the two nations had been expanding steadily. According to India’s Department of Commerce, bilateral trade surpassed $1.5 billion for the period of 2019-20, with Indian exports reaching $997 million and imports standing around $530 million.

Between 2015-20, India’s exports to Afghanistan grew by nearly 89 percent, while imports expanded by 72 percent – buoyed by India’s preferential trade agreement and duty-free access for Afghan dry fruits, saffron and medicinal herbs.

Taliban’s 2021 takeover of Afghanistan caused a sharp contraction in bilateral trade. Soon after the Taliban takeover, India removed Afghanistan from the India-Iran-Uzbekistan agreement to use Chabahar Port. Meanwhile, the Taliban showed interest in joining the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Beijing’s principal goal remains the extension of CPEC into Afghanistan connecting Central, South, and West Asia under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). However, Kabul has yet to commit to joining CPEC. A key reason for Afghanistan’s reluctance lies in its deteriorating relations with Pakistan.

Kabul has criticized Pakistan’s shift in policy violates the Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA), a framework for bilateral trade signed in 2010 designed to provide landlocked Afghanistan access to global markets through Pakistani seaports. Negotiations for an updated version of APTTA have been ongoing since 2021, but progress has been stalled due to the deteriorating relationship between the two countries.

Despite the lack of progress, the Taliban have sought to diversify transit beyond Pakistan. In March 2024, the Taliban announced plans to invest about $35 million in Chabahar port.

In September 2025, a high-level Iranian delegation led by Industry, Mining, and Trade Minister Seyed Mohammad Atabak visited Afghanistan to advance connectivity by expanding Afghan use of Chabahar. The two sides also discussed increasing freight on the Khaf-Herat railway to create a multimodal rail-to-port route feeding Chabahar.

The 225-kilometer Khaf-Herat railway includes 78 kilometers in Iran and 147 kilometers in Afghanistan. Hafez Sadatnejat, the project manager of Khaf-Herat said it is imperative to complete the project ASAP. Although the project began in 2007, the delays have been attributed to regional instability and 2021 transition in Afghanistan.

Eighteen years in the making, the project links Herat to Iran’s rail network via Khaf in Khorasan Razavi Province. The railway line is considered a critical link in the broader transcontinental corridor connecting China, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Iran and eventually the Persian Gulf and Europe.

Returning back to India’s approach to the Taliban that has gradually shifted from purely humanitarian aid to a focus on trade and transit for which Chabahar will play a key role in connectivity.