MEA reiterates India's commitment to peace and development of Afghanistan

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla held talks with prominent Afghan leader Ata Mohammad or on Wednesday, October 21. As per an MEA spokesperson, main topic of discussion was intra-Afghan peace talks and increasing incidents of violence in Afghanistan.

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India wholly committed to betterment of Afghanistan

A day after talks, Ministry of External Affairs released a statement wherein it stated that India is and will continue to be committed to reconstruction and development of Afghanistan. Earlier, Jaishankar had also stressed India's commitment to long-lasting peace in Afghanistan.

At moment, Afghan government and Taliban leaders are holding direct peace talks in Doha, Qatar in a bid to end decades of war in conflicted nation. India has already invested close to $2 billion into Afghanistan for reconstruction and aid purposes and is a major stakeholder in peace and stability of Afghanistan.

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Back in February United States had signed a deal with Taliban wherein US would move its troops out of country and in exchange, Taliban would swap prisoners with Afghan Government. After months of delay due to Afghan government's hesitation to release last batch of prisoners, peace talks finally commence in September.

At start of talks, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that talks were a ‘historic opportunity’ to bring about an end to decades-long war in Afghanistan. However, United States Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad on October 6 stated that current levels of violence in Afghanistan are "too high" and were t beneficial to peace processes.

(With PTI inputs, Im PTI)

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