New Delhi: Afghan Army Chief General Wali Mohammad Ahmadzai has postponed his visit to India this week in the wake of the growing military offensiveness by the Taliban post American troop withdrawal.
“This is to inform that the Chief of Army visit to India postponed due to intensity of war and Taliban’s increased assault and offensive”, the Afghan embassy in New Delhi said on Monday.
Lt. Gen. Ahmadzai was scheduled to arrive in India on a three-day visit beginning July 27 and meet Army Chief Gen. Manoj Naravane and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval.
His visit would have also coincided with US State Secretary Antony Blinken, who is set to visit India on July 27, Tuesday. Blinken meeting with India’s External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is primarily aimed at discussing the situation in Afghanistan.
Also read:Record 5,183 civilian casualties in violence-marred Afghanistan in 2021 so far: UN
The visit of the Afghan Army chief was significant and closely watched as it came amid the ongoing US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and the increase in violence by the Taliban, killing innocent civilians in the last few weeks and also the increasing hostility between the Taliban and the Afghan security forces.
Apart from meeting his Indian counterpart and India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Ahmadzai was scheduled to hold talks with other top security officials. He was also scheduled to travel to Pune to meet Afghan cadets being trained at various institutions.
The visit of the Afghan army chief to India would have provided an opportunity to both sides to hold consultations on the security situation in Afghanistan and find a way forward for a peace settlement in the backdrop of the campaign by the Taliban to capture territory as the US military troops intensify their drawdown from the country.
According to the report released by the UN assistance mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), during the first half of 2021, around 1,659 civilians were killed and another 3,254 wounded due to the violence instigated by the Taliban across Afghanistan.
India plays a crucial role when it comes to strengthening the military capacity of Afghanistan. It has a major role in training Afghan military personnel.
Also read:Next round of Afghan peace talks expected in August
Also besides providing nearly $3 billion worth of assistance for development and reconstruction activities in Afghanistan, India has over the years supplied military equipment, including 4 Mi25 armed helicopters etc to the Afghan National Defence and Security forces.
It is worth noting that India has so far trained thousands of Afghan military personnel in counter-terrorism operations, intelligence-gathering and information technology and others.
