Overview

• External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said India will upgrade its Kabul technical mission to a fully functional embassy after talks with Amir Khan Muttaqi.
• At Darul Uloom Deoband in Saharanpur, vice-chancellor Abul Qasim Nomani and Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind president Maulana Arshad Madani received the Afghan minister before a large gathering.
• Writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar condemned the respectful welcome, citing the Taliban’s curbs on girls’ education and calling the scene shameful.
• Female journalists were initially blocked from an Afghan embassy press event in Delhi, drawing criticism before a second, inclusive briefing was held; Muttaqi termed the exclusion unintentional and defended his position on women’s education.
• Muttaqi said Afghanistan will send new diplomats, invited Indian visits to Kabul, urged cooperation including on Chabahar, and warned Pakistan to “stop playing games.”