Jakarta: The foreign ministry in Jakarta confirmed on Tuesday that Taliban government officials visited Indonesia earlier this month on an unofficial trip, despite Kabul's claims that they had meetings with politicians there. Indonesia is the world's most populous country with a Muslim majority.

The Taliban government, which regained control in August 2021, is working to increase support for its rule throughout the Islamic world, and is courting Indonesia to deepen their political and economic ties.

However, Indonesia has not acknowledged the Afghan Taliban government's legitimacy since it reestablished itself two decades after US-led forces overthrew it. 

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According to what I understand, they visited Jakarta on a casual basis to discuss internal issues involving the Afghan mission there, Teuku Faizasyah, a spokesman for the Indonesian foreign ministry, told AFP.

He claimed that calling the visit a delegation would be inaccurate because it might imply "some sort of formality."
On July 14, however, Hafiz Zia Ahmad, the deputy spokesperson for the Afghan foreign ministry, tweeted that one of the government's top diplomats had led a "delegation" to Indonesia.

"The delegation held useful meetings and discussions with some scholars, politicians, and businessmen in Indonesia for strengthening bilateral political and economic relations," he wrote.

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Only a small number of nations have a presence in Afghanistan, and neither a nation nor a global organisation has formally recognised the Taliban government.
Jakarta's embassy in Kabul was shut down after the Taliban took control, but it was reopened last year.

In an effort to fully implement their interpretation of sharia law, Taliban authorities recently closed women's beauty salons and carried out at least two public executions.

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Richard Bennett, a special rapporteur on Afghanistan, said in a report to the UN Human Rights Council last month that the government of the nation may be "responsible for gender apartheid," worsening the situation of women and girls under its strict legal system