Russian NSA in India to discuss Afghan developments

New Delhi: Russia's National Security Advisor Nikolay Patrushev has arrived in India to hold high-level discussions on the political developments happening in Afghanistan, two weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin formally agreed on establishing a permanent bilateral channel for Afghan issues.

The proposed talks are expected to take place between India's National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Patrushev who is also reported to meet PM Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. Patrushev's visit is viewed as a signal from Russia which played a key role in Afghanistan issue after the Taliban's takeover.

For the last few years, diplomatic ties between India and Russia have been strong and trade between the countries is also in a positive state besides their collaboration with BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Vladimir Putin will likely attend the virtual summit of BRICS on September 9 followed by the SCO summit on September 16-17. Chinese President Xi Jinping is likely to attend both the summits with his country too emerging as a key player in Afghanistan because of Pakistan's active role in helping the Taliban.

Putin is also reported to have expressed his hope for the Taliban's civilised behaviour to maintain Afghanistan's diplomatic ties with the global community. In Kabul, the Russian Ambassador had met with the Taliban several days after the takeover and said Moscow would maintain its embassy in the country.