Published 16:57 IST, October 9th 2020
'India remains committed to peace, prosperity & stability in Afghanistan': S Jaishankar
Jaishankar met Afghan Chief peace negotiator Abdullah Abdullah to discuss the bilateral cooperation between two Asian countries
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday met Abdullah Abdullah, Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation and discussed the "bilateral cooperation" between the two Asian countries and the pertinent regional issues. Jaishankar expressed India's commitment and cooperation to peace, prosperity and stability in Afghanistan.
After the meeting, Jaishankar took to Twitter stating that he welcomed Abdullah's insights and perspectives on recent development. Even Abdullah echoed similar sentiments in his tweet after the meeting.
Abdullah met PM Modi on Thursday
This meeting comes just a day after Abdullah met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss over the developments of the Afghan peace process. Abdullah who is on a five-day trip to India, said PM Modi has assured his continuous support for the peace process. Prior to meeting PM Modi, Abdullah had also met National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Singh Rawat and Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla in his visit to India.
The influential Afghan leader visited India for the first time after the formation of a new government in Afghanistan. Abdullah's visit to India comes in the midst of peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban in Doha. He arrived in Delhi on October 6. His trip to India comes at a time when the Afghanistan government and Taliban are putting efforts to negotiate a peace deal in a bid to return stability in the war-ravaged country.
The Afghan Taliban peace talks comprise the first-ever official talks between the two warring sides i.e. Taliban and Afghanistan Government, which began in September in the Gulf state of Qatar, to discuss peace in the region. The insurgent group Taliban had untill recently refused to sit for talks, accusing the Afghanistan government of being 'weak and a puppet of the United States'.
Updated 16:57 IST, October 9th 2020