Afghanistan’s Minister for Public Health Noor Jalal Jalali on Tuesday reached the Indian capital of New Delhi on an official visit, the country’s health ministry said.
The visit marks the third by an Afghan official in the last three months, after Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and Industry Minister Nooruddin Azizi visited New Delhi.
“The multi-day visit aims to strengthen bilateral health cooperation, promote the exchange of experience, and coordinate joint efforts,” said the Afghan health ministry.
According to the statement, Jalali is to hold separate meetings with Indian officials, particularly health authorities, and take part in several organised programmes.
“Discussions will also focus on capacity-building opportunities for Afghan health workers, the import of quality medicines into Afghanistan, medical equipment, and other related issues,” it said.
The visit comes after the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan barred the traders from importing pharmaceutical goods from Pakistan.
Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesperson of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, confirmed the visit and extended a warm welcome to the Afghan delegation.
“The visit reflects India’s enduring support for Afghanistan’s healthcare system, and we look forward to productive discussions,” he said.
As Kabul’s relations with Islamabad deteriorated, the Taliban regime has sought closer ties with New Delhi.
The main issue between Islamabad and Kabul remains cross-border terrorism, with numerous attacks originating from Afghanistan and targeting security forces in Pakistan.
Pakistan has demanded that the rulers in Kabul take action to stop cross-border terrorism and stop providing sanctuary to the TTP, but the Afghan Taliban deny Islamabad’s allegations of terrorists being allowed to use Afghan soil to carry out attacks in Pakistan.
During a process of dialogue, which followed border clashes between the two countries in October, the two sides had met in an effort to work on mechanisms for lasting peace and stability between the two countries.
On October 25, the second round of talks between the two sides began in the Turkish capital. But Information Minister Attaullah Tarar then announced that the talks “failed to bring about any workable solution”.
However, mediators Turkiye and Qatar intervened and managed to salvage the dialogue process with an October 31 joint statement released by Turkiye stating that “further modalities of the implementation will be discussed and decided” during a principal-level meeting in Istanbul on November 6.
On November 7, however, after the third round of talks, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that talks addressing cross-border terrorism were “over” and “entered an indefinite phase” as negotiators failed to bridge deep differences between the two sides.
Following the failure of the talks, the Afghan Taliban suspended trade ties with Islamabad. Pakistan had already closed its border for trade soon after the October clashes.
