Russia dismisses reports of Moscow 'keeping out' India in Afghan peace talks

The Russian embassy in Delhi has dismissed the media reports stating that Russia has asked India to keep out of Afghan dialogue and stressed that Russia "always stated that India plays a very important role in Afghanistan, and its eventual deeper involvement in dedicated dialogue formats is natural". The embassy said in a statement that it had noted "the publication in the Indian media claiming that Russia allegedly 'kept India out' of the international efforts for the Afghan peace process, which seems to be based on ill-informed sources".

"Dialogue between Russia and India has always been very close and forward-looking on all global and regional issues, including the situation in Afghanistan. It has been intensively maintained in bilateral and multilateral formats, including the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group, Moscow consultations, etc," it said.

"Due to the complexity of the Afghan settlement, moving towards a relevant regional consensus and coordination with other partners, including the US, is critical. We proceed from the importance of the implementation of the US-Taliban agreement signed in Doha in February 2020 and approved by a UN Security Council resolution," it added.

US calls for ‘unified approach’ for Afghanistan

This came after the United States Secretary Antony BLinken’s letter to Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani and chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation, Abdullah Abdullah. He sought a peace conference facilitated by the United Nations (UN) with representatives from six nations including India to discuss a “unified approach to supporting peace in Afghanistan”. 

Blinken in a letter sent to Ghani on Sunday said that Turkey will be approached to host a senior-level meeting of both sides in the upcoming weeks to finalise a peace agreement. The US Secretary of State urged Ghani or his “authoritative designees” to attend the meeting. 

Blinken said that the Geneva-based organisation should convene a meeting with foreign ministers and envoys from  Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran, India and the US to discuss approaches to support peace in the war-torn country, Afghanistan.  Reportedly, it also said that the US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad should share with Ghani as well as the leaders of the extremist group, Taliban written proposals "aimed at accelerating discussions on a negotiated settlement and ceasefire. These proposals reflect some of the ideas included in the roadmap for the peace process".