Healing Borders and Building Bonds: Afghan Health Minister Explores India’s Medical Support

Amid geopolitical uncertainty, India and Afghanistan are discovering a new language of engagement in medicine. Afghanistan’s Minister of Public Health, Mawlawi Noor Jalal Jalali, embodied this shift during his 16–21 December 2025 New Delhi visit, coinciding with the 2nd WHO Global Summit on Traditional Medicine.

A Shift from Grand Projects to Quiet Care

Once known for building dams and highways in Afghanistan, India today builds medical capacity, which is less visible but equally enduring. Since the Taliban’s return in 2021, India’s Afghanistan policy has evolved from large-scale development projects to targeted humanitarian assistance.

Wheat, medicines, vaccines, and disaster relief now form the backbone of engagement. These quiet interventions help mitigate Afghanistan’s severe economic and health challenges without formal recognition of the Taliban regime.

The reopening of a technical team at the Indian embassy in Kabul in 2022 facilitated coordination of aid and allowed Afghan traders access to Indian ports, ensuring that humanitarian trade continued despite political uncertainty. When diplomacy runs into political barriers, it often finds alternative healers. In Afghanistan, India’s engagement increasingly takes the form of ‘Doctor Diplomacy.’

Health Sector Cooperation at the Forefront

The Afghan Health Minister’s New Delhi visit marked a deepening of health-sector collaboration. His participation in the WHO Global Summit on Traditional Medicine positioned Afghanistan within a global dialogue on integrating traditional medicine into modern healthcare. India’s leadership in AYUSH systems like Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy, highlighted research, digital documentation, and international cooperation. For Afghanistan, where traditional medicine remains vital at the community level, exposure to global best practices and regulatory frameworks is invaluable.

Bilateral meetings translated these discussions into tangible outcomes. In his meeting with India’s Minister of Health and Family Welfare, J.P. Nadda, India reaffirmed long-term humanitarian support. There were no grand announcements when cancer medicines were handed over, but only an acknowledgement that humanitarian needs often precede political consensus. The announcement of a larger consignment, including medicines, vaccines, and a 128-slice CT scanner, reflected a strategic focus on strengthening Afghanistan’s healthcare infrastructure rather than temporary relief.

Beyond Aid: Building Capacity and Institutions

Discussions with the Minister of State for External Affairs, Kirti Vardhan Singh, extended cooperation to institutional and capacity-building initiatives. Both sides explored forming a Joint Working Group on Health, establishing cancer treatment facilities, and deploying Indian medical teams to train Afghan doctors. In the absence of flags, formal recognitions, or joint declarations, the quiet arrival of medicines, the hum of a new CT scanner, and the training of Afghan doctors are redefining how diplomacy whispers when a firm conversation becomes taboo.

Engagement with India’s Ministry of AYUSH further underscored healthcare diplomacy’s strategic potential. Minister Prataprao Jadhav hosted discussions on education, research, and regulatory cooperation in traditional medicine. Field visits to AIIMS New Delhi, Jamia Hamdard’s Centre of Excellence in Unani Medicine, and meetings with CDSCO and FSSAI provided Afghan officials insights into India’s regulatory ecosystem and pharmaceutical supply chains.

Security, Geopolitics, and Strategic Patience

While India’s motivations are rooted in security and stability, the engagement is not one-sided. Afghanistan’s location at the crossroads of South Asia, Central Asia, and the Middle East makes it crucial for regional stability. A hostile or unstable Afghanistan could facilitate extremist networks detrimental to Indian interests. Engagement allows India to communicate red lines, particularly regarding the use of Afghan soil for anti-India terrorism, while balancing Pakistan’s and China’s growing influence in the region.

Economic and connectivity considerations also play a role. India’s investment in Chabahar Port provides a direct gateway to Afghanistan and Central Asia, bypassing Pakistan. Maintaining ties preserves long-term connectivity ambitions and reinforces decades of people-to-people goodwill built through Indian development initiatives in education, health, and infrastructure.

From the Taliban’s perspective, India holds distinct value. Engagement offers humanitarian aid, access to medical expertise, and international legitimacy. Indian cooperation in pharmaceuticals and capacity-building addresses critical shortages and supports domestic healthcare under sanctions and isolation.

Lessons in Soft Power: Doctor Diplomacy

Ultimately, the visit underscores a larger truth that in fractured geopolitical landscapes, soft power often travels through the corridors of hospitals rather than embassies. India’s engagement demonstrates that humanitarian diplomacy can achieve what traditional political recognition cannot. Over time, these understated acts like training doctors, delivering medicines, and sharing expertise leave a more enduring imprint than high-profile declarations ever could.

Afghanistan’s isolation has not rendered it invisible to the world but highlighted how strategic patience, pragmatism, and targeted cooperation can navigate even the most complex political terrain. In this evolving relationship, healthcare and traditional medicine are not just services. They are instruments of trust and stability.

In the end, perhaps the most profound diplomacy is the kind that heals. And in India–Afghanistan relations, the stethoscope may speak louder than the summit.