India to participate in Russia-initiated Afghan talks with Taliban

New Delhi: India has accepted Russia's invitation to join the Afghanistan talks in Moscow, where the Taliban has also been invited, The Indian Express (TIE) reported. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) confirmed India's participation in the talks on October 20, which will bring the Taliban face-to-face with India after the latter evacuated its diplomatic staff from Afghanistan post-Kabul's fall.

TIE reports that MEA would likely send a Joint Secretary level official to the meeting, but a final decision is yet to be announced.

Russia's special representative on Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulove, said last week that Moscow had invited representatives of the Taliban to the October 20 international talks. The talks come after the G20 summit on Afghanistan, held on October 12, to save the country from a humanitarian crisis after the power switch.

In late August, India's ambassador to Qatar, Deepak Mittal, had met Taliban representatives in Doha, and the Moscow talks will be the second between them. India has questioned the new regime's lack of inclusivity on the rights of minorities, women and children. It also had raised questions on terrorism arising from Afghanistan.

Moscow had hosted an international conference on Afghanistan in March. It had issued a joint statement of its attendees Russia, United States, China and Pakistan, demanding the then-warring fronts in Afghanistan to reach a peace deal. The statement also had asked the Taliban not to launch attacks during spring and summer. But as the US started withdrawing troops, the Taliban seized power with the collapse of the Ashraf Ghani government.

Though it moved to engage the Taliban, Moscow had not granted recognition for the group that is banned and stamped "terrorist organisation" in Russia. Meanwhile, it had kept its embassy in Afghanistan open whereas Western countries evacuated their diplomats following Kabul's fall.