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Mufti Noor Ahmad Noor, a senior official in the Taliban-run Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has reached India and is expected to assume duties as charge d’affaires at the Afghan embassy

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A Taliban-appointed diplomat has arrived in New Delhi and is expected to take charge of Afghanistan’s embassy, marking the first such posting since the group seized power in Kabul nearly five years ago, The Hindu reported citing sources familiar with the matter.

Mufti Noor Ahmad Noor, a senior official in the Taliban-run Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has reached India and is expected to assume duties as charge d’affaires at the Afghan embassy, the newspaper quoted sources as saying.

The move follows an understanding reached during the October 2025 visit to New Delhi by Taliban acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, who met Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar. Noor had accompanied Muttaqi during that visit.

Noor, currently director general of the First Political Division at the Afghan foreign ministry in Kabul, has not yet formally presented his credentials and his appointment has not been publicly announced by the Taliban administration, the sources said.

A previous Taliban attempt to appoint a charge d’affaires in New Delhi in April 2023 failed after embassy staff blocked the nominee from entering the premises.

The Taliban later succeeded in posting its representative to the Afghan consulate in Mumbai. However, Mohammad Ebrahimkhil, a diplomat appointed under the former Ashraf Ghani government, continued as charge d’affaires in New Delhi. It remains unclear whether Ebrahimkhil will now be reassigned.

India does not formally recognise the Taliban government, which took power in August 2021, but has gradually expanded engagement. New Delhi reopened a technical mission in Kabul in 2022.

In October last year, India upgraded that mission to full embassy status, allowing the Taliban to post diplomats in India, similar to steps taken by countries including China, Russia, Pakistan and several Gulf and Central Asian states.

Indian officials said existing embassy staff in New Delhi would, for now, continue in their roles and the flag of the previous Afghan republic would remain in place, though this could change once the new envoy formally assumes charge.

The Indian foreign ministry said last year the decision to upgrade diplomatic engagement reflected India’s intention to deepen ties with Afghanistan in areas of mutual interest.