India will hold yet another round of discussions with Russia, Iran and the Central Asian nations on Afghanistan on Wednesday, although its last such consultation ended with a “joint statement” which it was not comfortable with.
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval will host his counterparts from Russia, Iran and the Central Asian nations for consultation on the situation in Afghanistan, where the Taliban recently returned to power taking advantage of the withdrawal of the United States and its allies.
New Delhi also extended an invitation to Doval’s Pakistani and Chinese counterparts to attend the meet, but has not yet received any formal response from Islamabad and Beijing. Pakistan’s National Security Advisor, Moeed Yusuf, however, said in Islamabad on November 2 last that he would not visit New Delhi as India had been a ‘spoiler’ in Afghanistan.
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A source in New Delhi said that India was keen to use the forthcoming regional security dialogue with Iran, Russia and the Central Asian nations to once again underline the need to make Taliban prevent use of the territory of Afghanistan for exporting terror to its neighbourhood and beyond. Doval would emphasize on the need to enhance 'joint fight' against the nexus of radicalization, terrorism and the smuggling of drugs and arms in the region, in view of the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan, added the source.
New Delhi had sent two senior diplomats to attend a meeting hosted by the Government of Russia in Moscow on October 20. It had also been attended by the representatives of China, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, apart from a delegation of the interim government set up by the Taliban in Afghanistan.
“It was stated in the meeting that further practical engagement with Afghanistan needed to take into account the new reality, that is the Taliban coming to power in the country, irrespective of the official recognition of the new Afghan Government by the international community,” according to the document the Russian Government had released as a “joint statement” after the meeting.
The document had caused unease in New Delhi as it had almost granted legitimacy to the interim government set up by the Taliban in Kabul. Its wordings were not in sync with the position India took on the new dispensation in Afghanistan.
The Taliban on September 8 announced an interim government for Afghanistan with no representation of women and the ethnic minorities of the country. New Delhi called out the Taliban dispensation in Kabul for lack of inclusivity with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, himself, on September 17 urging the global community to tread cautiously on recognizing it.
New Delhi had some back-channel engagements with the Taliban before the militant organization took over power in Kabul on August 15. The Modi Government on August 31 for the first time publicly acknowledged its engagement with the Taliban as New Delhi’s envoy to Doha had a meeting with Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, the head of the militant organization’s political office in the capital of Qatar.
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