When External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met Amir Khan Muttaqi, Taliban’s acting foreign minister, on October 9, the gesture carried quiet significance. India’s announcement to upgrade its diplomatic presence in Kabul, after years of a minimal, technical mission, was officially framed as a “people-centric” move aimed at humanitarian cooperation. Yet, beneath the language of humanitarian engagement lies a deeper legal and diplomatic question: Is New Delhi inching towards an implied recognition of the Taliban government?

Recognition by conduct

In international law, recognition is not merely a political declaration but a legal act, as legal scholar Pavle Kilibarda explains in Recognition of States in International Law (2024). Recognition may be express, through formal statements, or im

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