The Taliban have taken de facto management of diplomatic missions in India, greater than two years after the group ousted the US-backed authorities in Kabul.

“Our consulates in Mumbai and Hyderabad are functioning and in contact with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” stated Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, a Taliban deputy overseas minister, throughout a Tuesday interview with the state tv channel RTA.

The embassy in New Delhi, which closed final week, may even reopen within the subsequent few days, he stated, with out elaborating.

In latest months, the Taliban have pulled nearer to India, which sees the group as an in depth ally towards archrival Pakistan. Dozens of Afghan diplomats appointed below the US-backed authorities have left India, Farid Mamundzay, the previous Afghan ambassador in New Delhi, informed Bloomberg News. Those that stay assist the Taliban’s overseas ministry, he stated.

“India has actively encouraged diplomats to engage with the Taliban government, showing support for those with direct backing from Kabul,” stated Mamundzay, who additionally resigned from his publish and moved to London a number of months in the past.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs declined to remark.

Read: Afghan Embassy in India to Shut Following Layoffs on Fund Crunch

The Afghan diplomats working in India are Consul Generals Zakia Wardak in Mumbai and Sayed Mohammad Ibrahimkhail in Hyderabad, in addition to commerce counselor Mohammad Qadir Shah. They stand behind the Taliban, in response to Mamundzay.

India is in search of methods to have interaction with the Taliban because it needs to guard its investments in Afghanistan and preserve affect there. New Delhi reopened its embassy in Kabul final yr to produce humanitarian assist, reminiscent of meals and drugs. Consular companies, together with visas for Afghan nationals, are nonetheless largely suspended.

While a handful of nations, together with China, Pakistan and Russia, have accepted Taliban diplomats of their nations, they don’t formally acknowledge the federal government, which has been condemned internationally for human rights violations. China was the primary nation to current diplomatic credentials to the Taliban in September.