New Delhi: India is preparing for the first ministerial-level visit from Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power four years ago. Dates for Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi’s trip to the subcontinent are being finalised, after which New Delhi will move the UN Security Council (UNSC) for a travel waiver, officials confirmed.If it goes ahead, this would mark India’s first and highest-level bilateral visit at the political level since the fall of the Afghan Republic to the Taliban in August 2021. In May, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar spoke with Muttaqi by phone, less than a week after India and Pakistan ended their short four-day clash.On Tuesday, CNN-News18 reported that India had already applied for a waiver and that the visit could happen this week. Officials told The Wire, however, that while “there are plans” for Muttaqi’s trip, no request has yet been filed.“Dates were not finalised. So, waiver does not arise,” a senior government official said.The UNSC’s 1988 sanctions committee oversees measures such as travel bans, asset freezes and arms embargoes against Taliban-linked individuals and groups. All council members sit on the committee, and decisions are taken by consensus. Pakistan currently chairs the panel, but any member can block an exemption.Earlier this month, Muttaqi’s planned visit to Pakistan was cancelled after the committee refused clearance. According to Dawn newspaper, the United States had opposed the waiver, over concerns over close ties with China.Since the start of Donald Trump’s second term, Washington has hardened its stance against the Taliban government. Regional powers, meanwhile, have steadily widened engagement with Kabul, with India also recalibrating its outreach.Last week, Pakistan’s foreign minister Ishaq Dar travelled to Kabul for a trilateral meeting with Muttaqi and Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi.Asked if New Delhi expects the waiver to come through, a senior official said, “We will work on the waiver process once dates get fixed.”After the Taliban takeover in August 2021, India cancelled visas for Afghan nationals and evacuated its embassy in Kabul. But, while it does not formally recognise the Taliban administration, New Delhi has since then expanded contact in recent years.Less than a year later, a “technical team” was stationed in Kabul, functioning as India’s de facto mission. Since then, Indian officials have made routine visits and held meetings with Taliban representatives on the sidelines of regional summits. Afghan diplomatic missions in India are now run by Taliban-aligned diplomats.Political engagement received a boost after Misri’s meeting with Muttaqi at Doha in January, followed by the May phone call with Jaishankar. During the call, Jaishankar said he “welcomed his firm rejection of recent attempts to create distrust between India and Afghanistan through false and baseless reports.”The remarks came after Pakistan’s military spokesperson alleged that India had “fired missiles at Afghan soil and conducted drone attacks inside Afghanistan” during the military clash. Afghanistan’s defence ministry dismissed the claim the same day. Muttaqi has also pressed India to expand visa access for Afghan traders and patients, and has sought the release and repatriation of Afghan nationals held in Indian prisons.India’s outreach was seen also against the backdrop of year-long tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan, with Islamabad accusing Afghan Taliban of harbouring groups like Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to launch terror attacks across the border.Five days after his phone call with Jaishankar in May, Muttaqi was in Beijing for a trilateral as part of China’s effort to reset Kabul-Islamabad ties. At the meeting, China also announced plans to extend the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to Afghanistan.