Foreign secretary Vikram Misri met the acting foreign minister of Afghanistan, Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi, in Dubai on Wednesday, making it India’s highest level official contact with the regime in Kabul since the Taliban overran the country in August 2021.

Misri’s meeting with Muttaqi caps a series of engagements — some of them furtive — Indian officials have had with Taliban officials in recent years without resuming diplomatic relations with Afghanistan, and comes two days after Delhi sided with Kabul in its ongoing stand-off with Islamabad over Pakistan airstrikes in the Afghan province of Paktika purportedly to target terrorist organisation Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.

Even on Wednesday, after Misri’s meeting, announced by the external affairs ministry, there was no word on whether India would be resuming diplomatic relations anytime soon though the official readout indicated the deepening of India’s engagement with the Taliban regime. India, like most other countries, has not yet recognised the Taliban but has been engaging with the regime, given the stakes Delhi has in Afghanistan.

“In view of the current need for development activities, it was decided that India would consider engaging in development projects in the near future, in addition to the ongoing humanitarian assistance programme,” the Indian readout said.

According to the external affairs ministry, in response to the request from the Afghan side, India will provide further material support in the first instance to the health sector and for the rehabilitation of refugees. “The two sides also discussed strengthening of sports (cricket) cooperation, which is highly valued by the young generation of Afghanistan,” it said.

There was, however, no official word from the Afghan side on the meeting. Misri, according to the ministry, conveyed India’s readiness to respond to the urgent developmental needs of the Afghan people. After the fall of Kabul, India provided humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan through the UN agencies operating in the strife-torn country and has maintained a technical team at the Indian embassy since June 2022. India’s earlier known contacts with the Taliban were usually led by J.P. Singh, the joint secretary (Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran) in the ministry.