The Russian Foreign Ministry last week had announced that Moscow-format meeting between Afghan and Taliban representatives will be held in Moscow on November 9.
New Delhi: India will be participating in the Afghan-Taliban talks at a “non-official level”, informed Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday. The talks between the Afghan government and Taliban representatives are scheduled to take place in Russia’s capital Moscow. The meeting will be held on Friday, November 9. The Russian Foreign Ministry last week had announced that Moscow-format meeting on Afghanistan will be held in the country. It had also confirmed the participation of the Taliban representatives- a radical movement in Afghanistan.
Replying to the queries regarding the meeting, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said that India is aware of the meeting between Afghan-Taliban and would participate at a non-official level. He said, “We are aware that the Russian Federation is hosting a meeting in Moscow on 9 November on Afghanistan. Our participation at the meeting will be at the non-official level.”
He said that India backs the efforts of peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan. “India supports all efforts at peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan that will preserve unity and plurality, and bring security, stability and prosperity to the country,” Kumar said. However, he quickly added that such efforts should be “Afghan-led, Afghan-owned, and Afghan-controlled and with the participation of the government of Afghanistan”.
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, several countries including Afghanistan, India, Iran, China, Pakistan, the US were invited to take part in the event. This was the second time that such an effort was made by Russia. Earlier, the country attempted to hold talks between regional powers to establish peace in war-torn Afghanistan.
The first meeting between the Taliban and the Afghan government was proposed to be held on September 4 of this year. However, the Afghan government pulled out calling the involvement of Russia “unnecessary”.
The meeting comes after a bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks a host of global issues. In a joint statement issued, both the sides expressed their support to Afghan government’s resolution of bringing peace to the war-torn country.
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