Taliban govt appoints Afghan student Ikramuddin Kamil as envoy in Mumbai

This is the first appointment by the Taliban in India since it took control of Afghanistan in 2021.

However, New Delhi does not recognise the appointment as India withdrew its diplomats from Kabul and other cities after the Taliban takeover.

The previous Ashraf Ghani government-appointed diplomats left India and took asylum in other countries.

A lone former diplomat has stayed back and kept the Afghanistan mission active in India.

Kamil's appointment comes days after a delegation led by JP Singh, joint secretary of the Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran division of the external affairs ministry visited Afghanistan.

He held talks with Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, the acting defence minister of the Taliban, in Kabul.

The appointment was announced by Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, the Taliban's deputy foreign minister for political affairs, in an X post on Tuesday.

Kamil, who lives in Mumbai, has been pursuing his higher studies in India for seven years.

He is pursuing a doctorate in law from the South Asia University in Delhi on a scholarship provided by the Ministry of External Affairs.