national security advisor Ajit Doval He is understood to have told his counterpart Nikolay Petrushev that Pakistan has a “special responsibility” to ensure that Afghanistan’s soil is not used to spread terrorism and carry out anti-India activities. India has repeatedly said over the past few weeks that its primary objective is to ensure that Pakistan-based terrorist groups do not use Afghan territory to launch attacks against others.
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According to Russia, the two sides discussed the possibilities of Russian-Indian joint efforts aimed at addressing “humanitarian and migration problems” in Afghanistan, as well as creating conditions for starting a peaceful resolution process based on an intra-Afghan dialogue. “In addition, they agreed to coordinate the approaches of Russia and India on the Afghan Agreement in multilateral formats,” the Russian statement said.
The meeting on Afghanistan took place a day before the BRICS summit, in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to again highlight concerns over terrorism, and the SCO summit next week where Pakistan PM Imran Khan will also be present.
Despite the importance of Pakistan’s role in Afghanistan, Russia and China remain concerned about the presence of terrorist groups, and India has been insisting on Moscow and others that the India-oriented and UN-banned Lashkar and JeM are any other terrorist groups. Just as dangerous. , if not more.
Official sources said this was the first “detailed and comprehensive” review of the situation in Afghanistan that involved the foreign ministry, the defense ministry and security agencies along with Russia after Kabul fell into the hands of the Taliban on August 15. India is believed to have expressed concern over the security of minorities. Including Hindus and Sikhs in Afghanistan.
After the delegation’s talks, Patrushev met Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. In the meeting with Modi, the two sides reaffirmed their intention to strengthen coordination to enhance regional stability, including in Afghanistan, according to a Russian press statement.
According to Indian government sources, there was a convergence of views on issues and threats related to Afghanistan and both sides expressed “deep concern” over the situation. They agreed on the need for the Taliban to comply with their commitments and “the presence of international terrorist groups in Afghanistan and the threat from terrorism in Central Asia and India”. The sides also expressed similar views on Islamic fundamentalism and extremism, the flow of arms to terrorist groups and smuggling across Afghan borders, and “the high potential for Afghanistan to become a center for opium production and smuggling”.
“The two sides discussed concrete forms of future bilateral cooperation between security agencies, including closer coordination, enhancing consultations and exchange of information,” an official said.
“The importance of defining the parameters of the future state structure of Afghanistan by the Afghans themselves, as well as the need to prevent escalation of violence, social, ethnic and confessional contradictions in the country,” Russia said.
In separate remarks, India’s envoy to Russia Venkatesh Verma said that neither the Doha talks nor the Troika Plus talks have yielded the right results. “India was not a direct participant in the Doha talks. India was also not part of the Troika Plus mechanism… I think one of the lessons is that it is better that India and Russia work together on Afghanistan. This is the most important lesson for us.”
Speaking to RIA Novosti on the eve of Russian NSA Patrushev’s visit, Verma said, “There is a new situation in Afghanistan now. All foreign troops are gone. The Taliban have taken over Kabul, but the instability continues.”
“Afghanistan is developing very rapidly … Press reports said that several slogans were raised against outside interference in Afghanistan, especially from Pakistan.”
Elaborating on India’s recently articulated ‘Far East Policy’, which includes a $1 billion line of credit for Indian businesses to participate in the development of the Russian Far East, Varma said it would be “new connectivity and Yamal”. We will build an energy bridge from Vladivostok to Chennai. Hence energy is emerging as a very important pillar of our cooperation.”
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