Indian embassy in Kabul will help ‘regional peace’: Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen

The Taliban administration in Afghanistan has welcomed India’s decision to upgrade the Indian Technical Mission in Kabul into an embassy. In a statement to The Hindu, Kabul’s Ambassador to Qatar, Suhail Shaheen said the Indian move will help in building “regional peace”.

“It is a rightful step to put bilateral relations on normal track, build trust, promote trade and cooperation and play a constructive role in regional peace. I welcome this decision and looking forward to seeing good bilateral relations between Afghanistan and India,” said Mr. Shaheen who is the Spokesman for international media for the Taliban administration. Mr. Shaheen is also serving as Kabul’s Ambassador to Qatar.

“It is an important and needed decision for relations between the two countries in various areas,” said Mr. Shaheen.

As decided during the recent visit of Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, India restored formal diplomatic links with Kabul on Tuesday (October 21, 2025) by upgrading the Technical Mission into an embassy with “immediate effect”. Official sources said this will lead to India appointing a CDA (chargé d’affaires) in the Indian embassy in Kabul.

“The Embassy of India in Kabul will further augment India’s contribution to Afghanistan’s comprehensive development, humanitarian assistance, and capacity building initiatives, in keeping with the priorities and aspirations of Afghan society,” said the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in the statement announcing the restoration of formal diplomatic contact with Taliban-administered Afghanistan.

India had shut its embassy in Kabul and withdrew existing staff in August 2021 when law and order situation had broken down as Taliban overthrew the government of President Ashraf Ghani. The Indian consulates in Mazar-i-Sharif, Jalalabad, Kandahar and Herat had also been closed as the conflict intensified in early 2021. India had sent a technical team to Kabul to run the mission on June 23, 2022 which was meant to facilitate humanitarian assistance and provide consular support.