Wed 10 November 2021:
Senior security officials from Russia, Iran, and five Central Asian countries are meeting in India to discuss the situation in Afghanistan, but there is no Afghan representative present.
Following the fall of the US-backed government and the Taliban’s takeover of the country, India’s archrival Pakistan and China also declined to attend the Delhi Regional Security Dialogue on Afghanistan on Wednesday.
India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval had invited security chiefs from Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan for the talks.
The summit will cover “relevant security challenges and support the people of Afghanistan in promoting peace, security, and stability,” according to India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
On Wednesday, top security officials were set to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Iran hosted the first two editions of the summit in 2018 and 2019.
New Delhi’s relations with Afghanistan are in suspended animation. It has no diplomatic presence left in Kabul after it evacuated its staff before the final US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
It did, however, hold its first official meeting with a Taliban representative in Qatar on August 31.
Meanwhile, a senior Taliban delegation led by acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi is scheduled to visit Islamabad on Wednesday as India hosts the Afghanistan meeting.
The Taliban foreign ministry said Muttaqi will discuss a range of issues during his trip, from the economy and refugees, to enhancing transit across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
A spokesman for the Taliban government, Inamullah Habibi Samangani, said on Tuesday that the security and economic development of Afghanistan is in favour of its neighbouring countries.
“The Islamic Emirate is not worried about such meetings but hopes to facilitate good cooperation,” Samangani said.
Photo: The Heads of the National Security Councils of seven nations in Delhi.
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