The first Taliban-appointed diplomat to be posted to India since the group’s return to power has arrived in Delhi to take charge of the Afghanistan embassy in the national capital.
Mufti Noor Ahmad Noor, a senior member of the Taliban, has assumed the role of Charge d’Affaires at the Afghan mission in Delhi, according to reports.
He arrived in India earlier this week and is expected to formally take up his duties following internal briefings at the embassy.
Mr Noor previously served as director general of the first political department at Afghanistan’s foreign ministry. He was also part of the delegation accompanying Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi during a week-long visit to India in October 2025. It was the first such trip to India by a Taliban leader since 2021.
The Independent has reached out to the Afghanistan embassy in India for a comment.
India does not officially recognise the Taliban government that took control of Afghanistan in August 2021, but has in recent years pursued limited engagement with Kabul, including humanitarian assistance and diplomatic contacts.
India has permitted Taliban envoys to staff Afghan diplomatic missions such as the consulates in Mumbai and Hyderabad.
The Afghan embassy in Delhi has continued to function under interim arrangements amid uncertainty over its diplomatic status.
After Mr Muttaqi’s October visit, India announced it would would reopen its embassy in Afghanistan. India closed its embassy in Kabul following the withdrawal of US-led Nato forces from war-torn Afghanistan four years ago, though it launched a small mission in 2022 to facilitate trade, medical support, and humanitarian aid.
India’s announcement at the time prompted uncertainty over the future of Afghan employees at the embassy who were appointed under the previous government.
According to The Hindu, some staff members fear they could be dismissed or pressured to return to Afghanistan, where they are concerned about reprisals and the safety of their families. Officials familiar with the matter told the outlet that existing employees would continue at the mission and that the red, green, and black tricolour flag of the former Afghan republic would remain flying at the embassy on Shantipath in Delhi.
However, they indicated that these arrangements could be reviewed once the Taliban-appointed envoy formally assumes control of the mission, expected in the coming days.
Mr Muttaqi’s visit had to be specially approved by the UN Security Council, as he is one of a number of Taliban leaders facing UN sanctions that include travel bans and asset freezes. He was first sanctioned by the UN in 2001 over the abuses committed by the Taliban in Afghanistan during the hardline Islamist group’s previous rule in the 1990s.
The UN General Assembly has not recognised the legitimacy of the Taliban’s administration in Afghanistan, but around a dozen countries have embassies operating in Kabul, including China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey. Only Russia has formally recognised the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan.
Western diplomats have said the main roadblock on the Taliban’s path to recognition is its misogynistic policies towards Afghan women, barring them from secondary schools, higher education, and most workplaces, and severely limiting their freedoms in public.
These policies were during the delegation’s October visit to India, with female journalists – high-profile Indian TV correspondents and a reporter for The Independent among them – barred from a press conference given by Mr Muttaqi.
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