Afghanistan Times
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AT Monitoring Desk-KABUL: After facing immense criticism from various political quarters for participating in the ‘Moscow format meeting’ on Afghanistan, which will also be attended by a Taliban delegation, official spokesperson of the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Raveesh Kumar, on Friday clarified that ‘India always wanted Afghan-led peace process, ANI reported.
Reiterating India’s stand on the issue, Kumar told the reporters there, “India will be participating in the meeting at non-official level, and added that “New Delhi’s Afghan policy has been consistent.”
Kumar also slammed the opposition parties for their remarks in this regard and questioned, “Don’t know how are people concluding that India will hold talks with the Taliban. It is a meeting on Afghanistan in Moscow.”
The statement from Kumar came a few hours after former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah slammed the central government for participating in the meeting by saying, “if “non-official” participation in a dialogue that includes the Taliban is acceptable to the Modi government, why not a non-official dialogue with non-mainstream stakeholders in J&K? Why not a non-official dialogue centered around the J&K’s eroded autonomy & its restoration?
Russia has pledged to facilitate direct talks between Afghan government and the Taliban, head of the High Peace Council (HPC) delegation said on Friday.
The Russia summit on Afghan reconciliation process kicked off on Friday in Moscow in which delegations from HPC, representing the Afghan government, the Taliban delegation and representatives from Iran, Kazakhstan, Kirghizstan, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and the US participated.
