US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad to visit India today, brief officials on intra-Afghan talks

In Doha, MEA’s joint secretary (Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran) J P Singh met Afghanistan’s former CEO and head of Afghan peace process, Abdullah Abdullah, on Monday.

Opinion| India should play an active role in articulating and promoting a peace process in Afghanistan

“Had a good meeting with J. P. Singh, JS (PAI), Ministry of External Affairs of India in Doha-Qatar. We took stock of the developments on the peace efforts, & the need for genuine regional & international support for talks. I also thanked India for its continued support,” Abdullah tweeted.

Signalling a carefully calibrated shift in its position on engaging with the Taliban, India participated on Saturday in the commencement ceremony of intra-Afghan talks between the Afghanistan government and the Taliban in Qatar’s capital Doha.

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Jaishankar joined the ceremony via video link while South Block sent Singh to Doha to attend the meeting.

Jaishankar told the gathering that the peace process must be “Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled”, “respect national sovereignty and territorial integrity of Afghanistan” and “promote human rights and democracy”.

Neither he nor the Ministry of External Affairs made any reference to “externally sponsored terrorism” — this has always been a reference to Pakistan.

In its statement on Saturday, the Ministry only said that “the issue of violence across the country and its neighbourhood has to be effectively addressed”.