Exclusive: India plays major role in Afghanistan peace process, claims Germany

India plays a major role in Afghanistan peace process as the country itself is an important stakeholder in Afghanistan and holds regular consultations with active players such as Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and China on peace issue.

New Delhi:Urging the Indian government to extend its support towards the ongoing peace process with the Taliban, the German special envoy to Afghanistan Potzel Markus said that India including Germany and Europe share similar interest.

In an exclusive interview to ETV Bharat, the Markus said, "Like India, Afghanistan also wants all the basic rights including human rights, rights of minorities and women to be maintained in the country. We want state institutions and constitution to be in its place. We too want elections to happen in Afghanistan."

Markus further said, "India is a major global player as it has already given over $2 billion aid to Afghan people in the last 17 to 18 years."

India plays a major role in Afghanistan peace process as the country itself is an important stakeholder in Afghanistan and holds regular consultations with active players like Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and China on the issue, Markus added.

Questioned about purpose of India visit, Markus said that he would brief Indian officials about Doha and the Intra-afghan dialogue, which was co-sponsored by Germany and Qatar. He would also like to explore the ways to proceed from here and what role India, Germany and Europe could play in reducing violence and bringing civilian casualties "to zero".

On Thursday, during its weekly press brief, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar asserted that Afghanistan peace process holds a lot of significance for India as well.

"India is closely following the recent developments pertaining to the ongoing peace and reconciliation efforts in Afghanistan and has been in constant touch with all major stakeholders in the matter," the MEA had said.

Commenting over India's stand, Markus said, 'We believe that all initiatives and processes must include all sections of the Afghan society including legitimately elected government. Any process should respect the constitutional Legacy and political mandate and should not lead to any ungoverned spaces where terrorist and their proxies can relocate."

Markus, is in Delhi for talks with the government on the outcome of the Intra-Afghan dialogue held in Doha on July 7-8.