India, Oct. 10 -- In a significant diplomatic development, India announced plans to reopen its embassy in Kabul, four years after it was shut down following the Taliban's takeover, as external affairs minister S Jaishankar held a bilateral meeting with Afghanistan's Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in New Delhi on Friday, marking the first high-level engagement between the two sides since 2021.

The meeting, seen as a key shift in India's Afghanistan policy, underscored New Delhi's intent to re-establish a formal diplomatic presence in the war-torn country while balancing strategic interests against regional rivals Pakistan and China.

Russia is the only country to officially recognise the Afghan Taliban government since they se...