Delegations of India-Taliban meet on the sidelines of the Moscow format dialogue on Afghan issues

The Taliban representatives on Wednesday met an Indian delegation, led by Joint Secretary JP Singh at the Ministry of External Affairs, sources in MEA confirmed on Thursday. The Indian delegation led by JP Singh, the joint secretary of the Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran division of the Ministry of External Affairs, was in Moscow to attend the Moscow Format meeting at the invitation of Russia.

New Delhi: On the sidelines of the Moscow format meeting on Afghanistan, the Taliban representatives on Wednesday met an Indian delegation, led by Joint Secretary JP Singh at the Ministry of External Affairs, sources in MEA confirmed on Thursday. The Indian delegation led by JP Singh, the joint secretary of the Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran division of the Ministry of External Affairs, was in Moscow to attend the Moscow Format meeting at the invitation of Russia.

Confirming the same, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said, "the delegation of Islamic Emirate met with the special representative of India, for Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan".

"A high-level delegation led by Maulvi Abdul Salam Hanafi, Deputy Prime Minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan met with Mr. JP Singh, Special Representative of India for Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran and his accompanying delegation on the sidelines of the Moscow Format Meeting in Moscow today. Both sides considered it necessary to take into account each other's concerns and improve diplomatic and economic relations. The Indian side finally expressed readiness to provide extensive humanitarian assistance to the Afghans," Zabihullah Mujahid's tweet read.

According to a local news source in Afghanistan, the Indian side expressed readiness to provide humanitarian assistance to the war-torn country. The Taliban spokesperson further said that both sides agreed to take into account each other's concerns and improve bilateral and strategic ties. It is worth noting that this is the second such bilateral talk that took place between representatives of New Delhi and the Taliban.

The first official contact between New Delhi and the Taliban was on August 31 when the ambassador of India to Qatar, Deepak Mittal, met Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, the head of Taliban's political office in Doha.

Russia hosted the third meeting of the Moscow Format Consultations on Afghanistan on Wednesday, which saw the participation of special representatives or senior officials from Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, as well as a high-level delegation of the interim Afghan government.

During the meeting, the member nations reiterated their respect to the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Afghanistan, and reaffirmed their commitment to Afghanistan as a peaceful, indivisible, independent, economically developing State, free of terrorism and drug-related crime and respecting the basic norms in the human rights area.

They also called on the current Afghan leadership to take further steps to improve governance and to form a truly inclusive government that adequately reflects the interests of all major ethnopolitical forces in the country.

Meanwhile, during his opening remarks at the Moscow talks Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said that forming an inclusive government fully reflecting the interests of not only all ethnic groups but all political forces of the country was necessary to achieve a stable peace in Afghanistan.

It is pertinent to note that India has been part of many multilateral forums on Afghanistan and at the UN Security Council, India has time and again reiterated its stand on Afghanistan.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called upon the international community to forge a unified response to bring about the desired changes in the situation in Afghanistan, which signifies that New Delhi will no longer remain silent.

Read: Russia convenes third Moscow Format Dialogue; nations 'respect sovereignty of Afghanistan'