NEW DELHI, Oct 5: Abdullah Abdullah, the chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation in Afghanistan, overseeing the country’s talks with the Taliban for a power-sharing deal, will visit India from Tuesday for the first time in his current role following the Government coming to power last year. He is expected to meet the top Indian officials to seek support for the intra-Afghan negotiations currently underway at Doha in Qatar.
The visit to India comes immediately after his three-day official visit to Pakistan last week. During his interaction with the Pakistani media in Islamabad, Abdullah had stated that both Pakistan and Afghanistan were on “the same page” on the problems of reducing violence and showing flexibility within the negotiations underway in Doha. These views should be emphasised in “messages communicated to the Taliban.”
Post-meeting him, Imran Khan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, had tweeted on 30 September “Enjoyed meeting Dr Abdullah Abdullah, Chairman HCNR of Afghanistan. We had a very interesting conversation: theme being the Past is an invaluable teacher to learn from but not to live in. We must look forward towards the future. I wish him all the success in his mission.”
India had sent an official delegation to attend the opening event of negotiations on September 12 in Doha. On the sideline of the inaugural session, J P Singh Joint Secretary Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran (PAI) in the Ministry of External Affairs, had met Abdulla Abdullah.
The inaugural event was also addressed virtually by S. Jaishankar the External Affairs Minister and during the event had said, “Interests of minorities, women and vulnerable sections of society must be preserved and the issue of violence across the country and its neighbourhood has to be effectively addressed.”
(Venkatesh Iyer)