India reaches out to Afghanistan President amid speculation over US move to set up interim government

India has reached out to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani amid speculation that the United States may nudge him to step aside for interim administration to facilitate the peace process with the Taliban.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval is currently on a visit to Kabul. He called on Ghani as well as Abdullah Abdullah, who heads the High Council of National Reconciliation that was set up to negotiate with the Taliban on behalf of the Government of Afghanistan.

Ghani and Doval discussed counter-terrorism cooperation between New Delhi and Kabul. They also discussed efforts for building regional consensus on supporting peace in Afghanistan, according to a statement issued by the office of the Afghan President. It quoted Ghani telling Doval that the Afghan Defence and Security Forces were guarantors of stability in Afghanistan and at the forefront of war against regional and global terrorism.

He was also quoted saying that Afghanistan and India, in joint efforts with NATO and the United States, would be able to succeed in the fight against terrorism.

Doval conveyed to Ghani that India is keen to continue its cooperation with Afghanistan and “talks on the common interests”.

“The two sides held extensive conversations on issues of strategic mutual interest, including on synchronising efforts to combat terrorism and build peace,” Tahir Qadiry, Kabul’s acting envoy to New Delhi, tweeted after India’s National Security Advisor had a meeting with his counterpart in the Afghan Government, Hamdullah Mohib.

New Delhi and Kabul have since long been blaming Pakistan for exporting terrorism, not only to India, but also to Afghanistan. With Imran Khan’s government in Islamabad facilitating the peace-process, initially between the US Government and the Taliban and then between Afghan Government and the Taliban, New Delhi is worried about the possibility of Pakistan finally getting its much-cherished “strategic depth” in Afghanistan and use it against India.

The terrorists based in Pakistan and having links with Pakistani Army and its military spy agency, Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), carried out several attacks on India’s diplomatic and consular missions in Afghanistan in the past.

Ghani purportedly turned down a request from the US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, for a meeting last week. What apparently irked him was the speculation that the US might step up pressure on him either to induct nominees of the Taliban in the Afghan Government or step aside to clear the way for setting up an interim government to facilitate the peace-process.

The US, however, stated that it was not advocating an interim government. “We have not advocated, and the United States is not advocating, an interim government. The outcomes of Afghanistan Peace Negotiations are up to Afghans and we believe those outcomes should reflect the wishes and aspirations of the Afghan people,” tweeted Washington’s acting envoy to Kabul, Ross Wilson.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on September 12 virtually participated in the ceremony held in Doha to mark the beginning of the formal negotiations between the Ghani’s Government in Kabul and the Taliban. He reiterated India’s position that any peace process in Afghanistan must be “Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled” and must respect the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of Afghanistan.

He also said that the peace-process must preserve the progress made in the establishment of a democratic Islamic Republic in Afghanistan after the fall of Taliban in 2001. The interests of the minorities, women and vulnerable sections of society must be preserved, he added.

New Delhi, however, has been expressing its “grave concern” over increasing level of violence in Afghanistan over the past few months