‘Didn’t involve travel to India’: MEA on invite to Taliban for online course

External affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said there has been no change in the Indian government’s stance towards the Taliban setup in Kabul

Published on: Mar 16, 2023, 20:00:32 IST

By Rezaul H Laskar

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NEW DELHI: India on Thursday said there has been no change in the government’s position on not recognising the Taliban setup in Afghanistan following reports of a foreign policy institution in Kabul asking officials to participate in an online course under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme.

A letter from the head of the Institute of Diplomacy under the Taliban foreign ministry also referred to a note verbale or unsigned diplomatic correspondence from the Indian embassy in Kabul. (AFP File Photo)

A letter from the head of the Institute of Diplomacy under the Taliban foreign ministry had asked officials to register for the course being conducted by the Indian Institute of Management (IIM)-Kozhikode during March 14-17.

The letter had also referred to a note verbale or unsigned diplomatic correspondence from the Indian embassy in Kabul regarding the course but external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi dismissed the possibility of the Indian side sending such official correspondence to “entities that are not recognised”.

“India has been extending capacity-building assistance to developing countries across the world through what is called the ITEC programme. This includes online courses,” he told a regular media briefing.

These scholarship courses cover numerous topics and are conducted by different Indian institutions. These courses are also open to nationals of various countries, including Afghanistan, he said.

“A number of Afghan nationals, both based in India as well as in Afghanistan, have been participating in these ITEC courses. Of course, the online courses do not involve travel to India,” he added.

Bagchi emphasised that there has been no change in the Indian government’s stance towards the Taliban setup in Kabul.

“Our position on how we see developments in Afghanistan has not changed. I do not think anything should be read into ITEC courses vis-a-vis that. We certainly would not be issuing note verbales, which are inter-governmental notes, to entities that are not recognised,” he said.

ITEC is one of the oldest institutionalised arrangements for global capacity building and its programmes have trained more than 200,000 officials from more than 160 countries.

India re-established a diplomatic presence in Kabul by reopening its embassy in June last year. A small group of diplomats, known as a “technical team”, is currently present in Kabul though India is yet to decide on resuming support for development projects across Afghanistan.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rezaul H Laskar
Rezaul Hasan Laskar is Foreign Editor with the Hindustan Times, which he joined in 2015. He began as a journalist in his hometown of Shillong in northeast India and has worked in newspapers and wire services over the years. He moved to New Delhi in 1997 and initially focused on defence, national security, Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast, while also working of foreign policy and international relations. He has been part of the media delegation accompanying PMs on foreign visits and has reported from destinations ranging from Tibet to Ukraine. Between 2007 and 2013, he was the Press Trust of India correspondent in Pakistan, one of only two Indian journalists allowed to report from the country. He extensively covered Pakistan’s domestic politics and the life of the common people, as well as the fallout of the 2008 Mumbai attacks on India-Pakistan relations and the subsequent trial in Pakistan of the suspects involved in the attack. As part of his reportage in Pakistan, he travelled the breadth of the country, from the Swat Valley to Balochistan. Reza’s first gig in journalism was writing a weekly music column, and music – especially classic rock – remains a keen interest. He is also a movie buff and a keen photographer.Read More

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