India, Jan. 13 -- Foreign secretary Vikram Misri's meeting with Taliban's acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Dubai on January 8 is a significant marker in New Delhi's diplomatic engagement with the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, which called India a "significant regional and economic partner." The timing of this meeting was crucial for several reasons: the international community is distracted by crises in Ukraine and the Middle East with little time or money to spare for the country, tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan are escalating, and harsh winter conditions impacting ordinary Afghans, immediate humanitarian assistance is the need of the hour-something India has committed to provide.

India's growing engagement with t...