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India's enduring ties with Afghanistan through turmoil and Taliban engagement
India and Afghanistan have been connected for a very long time, even during wars and big changes in government.
India kept its embassy, an official office, in Afghanistan's capital city Kabul even when Soviet soldiers were leaving the country.
Long ago, the Soviet Union fought a war in Afghanistan against fighters called mujahideen, who were helped by Pakistan and the United States.
When the Taliban took over Kabul for the first time in 1996, India had to close its embassy.
In 2008, a car bomb near India's embassy in Kabul killed and hurt many people.
India closed the embassy again in 2021 when the Taliban came back to power.
In 2025, India reopened the embassy, which was the first big step between India and the new Afghan leaders.
Some Afghan fighters have not liked India because they were backed by Pakistan, but others have welcomed India's help.
The Taliban leaders grew unhappy with Pakistan over a border line drawn by a British diplomat in 1893.
Now India and Afghanistan are trying to build their friendship again.
India's Ministry of External Affairs says there has been an apparent 'increase' in India's pragmatic engagement with the Taliban as the regime marks five years of rule in Kabul.
The Indian embassy in Kabul stayed open during the Soviet withdrawal beginning in mid-1988 but was closed in September 1996, shortly before the Taliban's first takeover of the capital.
On July 7, 2008, a suicide car bombing at the embassy killed 59 people, including four Indian officials and a local driver, and seriously injured more than 150, including five ITBP personnel.
The embassy was forced to close again in 2021 when the Taliban reached Kabul, and it reopened in 2025, marking the first high-level engagement between India and Afghanistan since the Taliban's return.
Pakistan-backed Afghan fighters have historically been hostile to India, while the Taliban leadership turned away from Pakistan before India's outreach, partly over the Pashtun grievance on the 1893 Durand Line.
- Who
- India (through its Ministry of External Affairs) and the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan
- What
- An apparent increase in India's pragmatic engagement with the Taliban, alongside a retrospective on India's enduring diplomatic ties with Afghanistan, including the embassy's closures and its 2025 reopening
- Where
- Afghanistan (Kabul), India (New Delhi), and Pakistan
- When
- As the Taliban regime marks five years of rule in Kabul this month; key events span from the Soviet withdrawal beginning mid-1988 to the embassy reopening in 2025
- Why
- The Taliban leadership turned away from Pakistan before India's outreach, driven by Pashtun grievances over the 1893 Durand Line and Pakistan's 'big brother' treatment, opening the door to renewed Indian engagement
Key facts
- India-Taliban engagement
- Ministry of External Affairs notes an apparent 'increase' in India's pragmatic engagement with Taliban authorities; Taliban regime marks five years of rule in Kabul
- 2008 embassy bombing
- July 7, 2008 suicide car bombing killed 59 people, including four Indian officials and a local driver; more than 150 seriously injured, including five ITBP personnel
- Embassy closures and reopening
- Closed in September 1996 before the Taliban's first takeover of Kabul; closed again in 2021; reopened in 2025, the first high-level engagement since the Taliban's return
- Soviet withdrawal
- Began mid-1988 and lasted over a year, ending a decade-long conflict dubbed the 'Soviet Union's Vietnam'
- Najibullah's fate
- Deposed President Mohammad Najibullah took refuge in a UN compound for four years and was executed after the Taliban took Kabul in 1996
- Durand Line
- Drawn in 1893 by British diplomat Sir Henry Mortimer Durand; Pashtuns contend their majority areas were divided unfairly
Sources
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