India`s Foreign Ministry said Friday that Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi will visit New Delhi from Oct. 9 to 16, the first such trip by a senior Taliban official since they seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021.

The announcement came after the U.N. Security Council approved a temporary exemption to its travel ban on Muttaqi. Under Resolution 1988, certain Taliban figures remain subject to sanctions, but exemptions may be granted for official duties or medical reasons.

"All of you would have seen the exemption that has been granted by the U.N. Security Council Committee for the travel of the Afghan Foreign Minister to New Delhi from October 9 to 16," Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal told reporters in New Delhi. "This public information is there in the public domain. We shall keep you updated in this regard."

Jaiswal said India has maintained diplomatic contacts with the Taliban in recent months. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar spoke by phone with Muttaqi in May, while other senior officials, including Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, met him earlier in January.

Several Taliban officials have visited New Delhi in recent months, including Deputy Minister of Medicine and Food Hamdullah Zahid, who attended an international pharmaceuticals and healthcare exhibition in September.

India has also provided humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, Jaiswal said, noting that New Delhi dispatched relief supplies to Kunar province on the same day a powerful earthquake struck in September. Additional aid was later sent via Iran`s Chabahar port.

The visit underscores a gradual increase in contacts between New Delhi and the Taliban, despite their lack of international recognition and the continued imposition of sanctions.