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Taliban Say India Is a ‘Significant Regional Partner’ after Meeting

Photo: AFP
Photo: AFP
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Taliban Say India Is a ‘Significant Regional Partner’ after Meeting

Photo: AFP
Photo: AFP

The Taliban's foreign office said they saw India as a "significant regional and economic partner" after meeting with its most senior foreign ministry official, the highest level talks with Delhi since their takeover of Afghanistan in 2021.
India's Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri met acting Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Dubai on Wednesday.
Afghanistan's foreign ministry said in a statement that they had discussed expanding relations with Afghanistan and to boost trade through Chabahar Port in Iran, which India has been developing for goods to bypass the ports of Karachi and Gwadar in its rival Pakistan, Reuters reported.
"In line with Afghanistan's balanced and economy-focused foreign policy, the Islamic Emirate aims to strengthen political and economic ties with India as a significant regional and economic partner," the statement from Afghanistan's foreign ministry said late on Wednesday.
India's foreign ministry said after the Delhi meeting that India was considering engaging in development projects in Afghanistan and looking to boost trade ties.
No foreign government, including India, officially recognizes the Taliban administration.
However, India is one of several countries with a small mission in Kabul to facilitate trade, aid and medical support and has sent humanitarian aid to Afghanistan under the Taliban.
Regional players including China and Russia have signaled they are willing to boost trade and investment in Afghanistan.
The Delhi meeting could ruffle Pakistan, which borders both countries and has fought three wars in the past against India.
Pakistan and Afghanistan also have a strained relationship, with Pakistan saying that several militant attacks that have occurred in its country have been launched from Afghan soil - a charge the Afghan Taliban denies.
Earlier this week India's foreign office told journalists they condemned airstrikes conducted late last year by Pakistan on Afghan soil.

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World

South Korea’s Ex-President Yoon Apologizes After Life Sentence Over Martial Law 

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol delivers a speech to declare martial law in Seoul, South Korea, December 3, 2024. (The Presidential Office/Handout via Reuters/File Photo)
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol delivers a speech to declare martial law in Seoul, South Korea, December 3, 2024. (The Presidential Office/Handout via Reuters/File Photo)
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South Korea’s Ex-President Yoon Apologizes After Life Sentence Over Martial Law 

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol delivers a speech to declare martial law in Seoul, South Korea, December 3, 2024. (The Presidential Office/Handout via Reuters/File Photo)
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol delivers a speech to declare martial law in Seoul, South Korea, December 3, 2024. (The Presidential Office/Handout via Reuters/File Photo)

Former ‌South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol apologized on Friday for his short-lived declaration of martial law in December 2024, a day after a Seoul court sentenced him to life in prison for masterminding an insurrection.

In a statement released by his lawyers, Yoon said that while he was sorry for the "frustration and hardship" brought upon the people by his martial law decree, he stood behind the "sincerity and purpose" behind his actions.

The Seoul Central District Court's decision ‌to hand him ‌a life sentence on Thursday was "predetermined," he ‌said, ⁠adding that the verdict ⁠against him was political retaliation.

"Forces that seek to smear a decision made to save the nation as an 'insurrection' and to use it beyond political attacks as an opportunity to purge and eliminate their opponents will only grow more rampant going forward," he said.

Yoon also questioned ⁠whether an appeal would have meaning ‌in what he described as an ‌environment where judicial independence could not be guaranteed, while telling ‌supporters to "unite and rise."

His lawyers separately said the statement ‌did not amount to an intention to forgo an appeal.

Yoon's martial law declaration lasted around six hours before being voted down by parliament, but it sent shockwaves through the country and ‌sparked street protests.

The court found Yoon guilty of subverting constitutional order by deploying troops ⁠to storm ⁠parliament and move to detain opponents, capping a dramatic fall that saw him stripped of office and end up behind bars.

Yoon, a former career prosecutor, denied the charges, arguing he had presidential authority to declare martial law and his action was aimed at sounding the alarm over opposition parties' obstruction of government.

A special prosecutor had sought the death penalty for Yoon, though South Korea has not carried out an execution since 1997.

A prosecutor said on Thursday the team had some "regret" over the sentencing, but declined to say whether they planned to appeal.

World

Russia Hits Ukraine's Oil, Gas Infrastructure in Poltava Region, Naftogaz Says

FILE PHOTO: A Ukrainian service member of the 14th Unmanned Aerial Systems Regiment prepares a deep strike unmanned aerial vehicle before its launch toward Russian territory, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in an undisclosed location in Ukraine, undisclosed date, 2025. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A Ukrainian service member of the 14th Unmanned Aerial Systems Regiment prepares a deep strike unmanned aerial vehicle before its launch toward Russian territory, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in an undisclosed location in Ukraine, undisclosed date, 2025. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/File Photo
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Russia Hits Ukraine's Oil, Gas Infrastructure in Poltava Region, Naftogaz Says

FILE PHOTO: A Ukrainian service member of the 14th Unmanned Aerial Systems Regiment prepares a deep strike unmanned aerial vehicle before its launch toward Russian territory, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in an undisclosed location in Ukraine, undisclosed date, 2025. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A Ukrainian service member of the 14th Unmanned Aerial Systems Regiment prepares a deep strike unmanned aerial vehicle before its launch toward Russian territory, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in an undisclosed location in Ukraine, undisclosed date, 2025. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/File Photo

Russian drones hit Ukraine's oil and gas infrastructure in the central Poltava region, causing ‌damage ‌and a ‌fire, ⁠the state energy company ⁠Naftogaz said on Friday.

"This is yet another targeted ⁠attack on ‌our ‌oil and ‌gas infrastructure. ‌Since the beginning of the year, the ‌enemy has attacked Naftogaz Group facilities ⁠more ⁠than 20 times," Sergii Koretskyi, Naftogaz CEO said in a post on Facebook.

World

Kim Jong Un Vows to Boost Living Standards as He Opens Rare Congress 

This picture taken on February 19, 2026 and released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on February 20, 2026 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivering the opening address at the Ninth Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea in Pyongyang. (KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)
This picture taken on February 19, 2026 and released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on February 20, 2026 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivering the opening address at the Ninth Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea in Pyongyang. (KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)
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Kim Jong Un Vows to Boost Living Standards as He Opens Rare Congress 

This picture taken on February 19, 2026 and released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on February 20, 2026 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivering the opening address at the Ninth Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea in Pyongyang. (KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)
This picture taken on February 19, 2026 and released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on February 20, 2026 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivering the opening address at the Ninth Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea in Pyongyang. (KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to lift living standards as he opened a landmark congress, state media said Friday, offering a glimpse of economic strains within the sanctions-hit nation.

Supreme Leader Kim took center stage with a speech to start the Workers' Party congress, a gathering that directs state efforts on everything from house building to war planning.

Held just once every five years, the days-long congress offers a rare glimpse into the workings of a nation where even mundane details are shrouded in secrecy.

"Today, our party is faced with heavy and urgent historic tasks of boosting economic construction and the people's standard of living and transforming all realms of state and social life as early as possible," Kim said in his opening speech.

"This requires us to wage a more active and persistent struggle without allowing even a moment's standstill or stagnation."

For decades, nuclear weapons and military prowess came before everything else in North Korea, even as food stocks dried up and famine took hold.

But since assuming power in 2011, Kim has stressed the need to also fortify the impoverished nation's economy.

At the last party congress in 2021, Kim made an extremely rare admission that mistakes had been made in "almost all areas" of economic development.

Analysts believe such language is designed to head off public discontent stirred by food shortages, military spending, and North Korea's continued support for Russia's war effort in Ukraine.

Kim said North Korea had overcome its "worst difficulties" in the last five years, and was now entering a new stage of "optimism and confidence in the future".

North Korea's economy has for years languished under heavy Western sanctions that aim to choke off funding for its nuclear weapons program.

But Pyongyang refuses to surrender its atomic arsenal.

Kim has already declared this year's congress will unveil the next phase in the nation's nuclear weapons program.

- Ruling dynasty -

Thousands of party elites packed the cavernous House of Culture in Pyongyang for the opening day of the congress.

It is just the ninth time the Workers' Party congress has convened under the Kim family's decades-long rule.

The meeting was shelved under Kim's father Kim Jong Il, but was revived in 2016.

Kim Jong Un has spent years stoking his cult of personality in reclusive North Korea, and the congress offers another chance to demonstrate his absolute grip on power.

Footage showed Kim stepping out of a black limousine and striding into the meeting flanked by officials.

Delegates broke into hearty applause as he took his place at the center of the imposing rostrum overlooking proceedings.

Analysts will scour photographs to see which officials are seated closest to Kim, and who is banished to the back row.

Particular attention will be placed on the whereabouts of Kim's teenage daughter Ju Ae, who has emerged as North Korea's heir apparent, according to Seoul's national intelligence service.

- 'Biggest enemy' -

The ruling parties of China and Russia -- North Korea's longtime allies -- sent friendly messages to mark the start of the meeting.

"In recent years, under the strategic guidance of the top leaders of the two parties and two countries, China-DPRK relations have entered a new historical period," said a telegram from the Chinese Communist Party, using the official acronym for North Korea.

Kim appeared alongside China's Xi Jinping and Russia's Vladimir Putin at a military parade in Beijing last year -- a striking display of his elevated status in global politics.

At the previous congress five years ago, Kim declared that the United States was his nation's "biggest enemy".

There is keen interest in whether Kim might use the congress to soften this stance, or double down.

US President Donald Trump stepped up his courtship of Kim during a tour of Asia last year, saying he was "100 percent" open to a meeting.

Kim has so far largely shunned efforts to resume top-level diplomatic dialogue.