The Taliban government in Afghanistan has recommended to its foreign ministry staff a four-day training programme in “Immersing with Indian Thoughts”.

The online course is offered by IIM Kozhikode as part of New Delhi’s capacity-building platform, the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme (ITEC).

In an office memorandum, the foreign affairs ministry of the Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan said the Indian embassy in Kabul had informed it of the programme.

Those interested and fluent in English could enrol, the office memorandum added.

There has been no official word from either New Delhi or Kabul but the office memorandum of the Afghan ministry in Dari has been circulating on social media since Sunday.

India currently lacks a diplomatic presence in Afghanistan although it operationalised its embassy in Kabul in a limited manner with a technical team in June-end last year. The objective was to coordinate the delivery of humanitarian assistance and ensure the upkeep of Indian projects in the country.

Sources said the four-day online course was open to all countries. According to the ITEC website, the programme – “an India Immersion Program for Cross Sectoral Foreign Delegates” --- begins on Tuesday.

Instituted in 1964 under the external affairs ministry, ITEC is one of the oldest institutionalised arrangements for international capacity-building. It has trained more than 200,000 civilian and defence officials from more than 160 countries.

India had pulled out its entire staff from Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover of the country on August 15, 2021, but the local staff has ensured the upkeep of the mission in Kabul.