India and the European Union (EU) will have an occasion to change notes and bandy the way forward in Afghanistan when EU special envoy Tomas Niklasson visits New Delhi this week.

iklasson is set to travel to India after holding addresses in Doha over the weekend with a Taliban delegation led by acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi. The EU made it clear the two- day dialogue didn’t indicate recognition of the interim government in Kabul but was part of an “ functional engagement in the interest of the EU and the Afghan people”.

This will be Niklasson’s first visit to India since he came the special envoy and comes weeks after India hosted a meeting of top security officers of indigenous countries, including Iran and Russia, to bandy the situation in Afghanistan.

Security ties between India and the EU have been on the upswing in recent times in areas ranging from the Indo-Pacific to maritime security. People familiar with the matter said on condition of obscurity that the EU special envoy’s visit will be an occasion for the two sides to change views on the rearmost developments in Afghanistan, including the critical need to give philanthropic aid to the Afghan people.

The people further said that India’s position on Afghanistan remains unchanged and is grounded on UN Security Council resolution 2593, which calls for the conformation of an inclusive government and way to insure that Afghan soil isn’t used to plan and execute terrorist conduct against other countries.

India has no immediate plans to renew its delegacy in Kabul, which was shuttered after all the diplomats and security help were vacated in August, the people said.

The immediate focus for India is icing unchecked and disencumbered access for philanthropic sweats in order to rush relief accoutrements and drugs to the Afghan people as downtime sets in, the people added.

The Taliban delegation led by Muttaqi also held addresses in Doha with the new US special representative on Afghanistan, Thomas West, who emphasised the “ significance of the Taliban fulfilling its public commitment not to allow anyone to pose a trouble to any country from the soil of Afghanistan” and the protection of the rights of all of Afghan citizens.

The US side indicated there were no plans to lift American warrants, as the storeroom department had issued general licences for the continued inflow of philanthropic aid to Afghanistan.

The EU delegation, in its addresses with the Taliban, stressed the significance of republic and called on the interim government to take “ nippy, meaningful and concrete way towards an inclusive government” with all ethnical, political and religious confederations in order to pave the way for public conciliation.