Key facts
- India in talks with Taliban government on agricultural cooperation
- India has not formally recognised the Taliban administration
- India has billions of dollars of past investments in Afghan infrastructure
India is in discussions with Afghanistan's Taliban administration on agricultural cooperation, The Hindu reported, in a development that signals a cautious but deliberate expansion of New Delhi's engagement with Kabul. The outreach focuses on farming-related collaboration, an area where India has historically offered significant technical assistance and expertise to Afghanistan.
India has never formally recognised the Taliban government, which came to power in August 2021 following the withdrawal of US-led forces. Yet New Delhi has maintained a degree of practical engagement — including humanitarian aid and consular activity — driven by India's substantial historical investments in Afghan infrastructure, including roads, dams and the Afghan parliament building, which run into billions of dollars.
Agricultural cooperation is a strategically sensible starting point. Afghanistan faces acute food insecurity, and India's expertise in seeds, horticulture, drip irrigation and agricultural processing are areas where Afghan farmers could benefit. For India, it also provides a foothold in a country that serves as a land corridor to Central Asia and Iran, a connectivity route that New Delhi has long sought to develop through the Chabahar port project.
The discussions are unlikely to translate into formal agreements in the near term, given the diplomatic complexities of dealing with an internationally unrecognised government. But the fact that India is at the table on even practical, technical cooperation suggests a foreign policy calculation that disengagement from Afghanistan carries greater long-term costs than cautious engagement.