Need to renew ties with India: Taliban

 NEW DELHI: Afghanistan is look-ing to renew and normalise ties with India and is open to invest-ments for the country's develop-ment, Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said on Friday in the wake of the first contact between external affairs minister S Jais-hankar and Taliban acting for-eign minister Amir Khan Mut-taqi.

The phone call between Jais-hankar and Muttaqi, the highest level of contact between the Indian government and the Tali-ban since they took over Afghan-istan in August 2021, raised eye-brows in diplomatic circles as it came amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan.

Muttaqi's move to call Jais-hankar ahead of his scheduled visits to Iran and China next week is also significant, people familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity. The call built on a meeting between Mut taqi and foreign secretary Vikram Misri in Dubai in Janu-ary, and a visit to Kabul by the Indian diplomat overseeing rela-tions with Afghanistan days after the Pahalgam terror attack, 

When Shaheen, who is also the Taliban's envoy to Qatar, was asked about the significance of the contact between Jaishankar and Muttaqi, he told HT: "Afghanistan has had historical relations with India, there is a need to renew that and normal-ise relations. We have a balanced approach policy, and our arms are open for all countries to invest in Afghanistan and coop-erate with us in various fields."

The call for investments from the Taliban side is significant as the two sides are exploring ways to enhance bilateral trade from the current level of $1 billion.

The people also said the Tali-ban side reiterated its strong condemnation of the Pahalgam eged attack and rejected alleged reports floated by Pakistani mili-tary officials of missile le attacks attacks by b India on Afghanistan.