During his landmark visit to India, Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi put forward a clear diplomatic message—one that cuts across U.S. and Pakistan alike. 

To the U.S., the subtext is unmistakable: the Taliban rejects any plans to reinstate American military presence in Afghanistan. The Moscow Format joint statement, endorsed during his recent trips, explicitly denounced “attempts by countries to deploy their military infrastructure in Afghanistan,” a reference to U.S. designs on Bagram. 

To Pakistan, the signal is two-fold: first, that the Taliban regime is charting a more autonomous foreign policy, less tethered to Islamabad; and second, that Kabul expects Pakistan to take stronger action against militant groups on its soil. In India, Muttaqi claimed that Afghanistan has eliminated all terror groups operating from its territory and urged Pakistan to do the same. 

By engaging New Delhi and pushing for deeper economic and diplomatic ties, the Taliban is also signalling to regional actors that it seeks independent legitimacy and strategic partnerships—beyond being a proxy. This visit, then, is more than ceremonial: it’s a declarative first step in reshaping diplomatic alignments.