India says sharing table with Taliban on Afghanistan is at non-official level; Russia warns all against 'geopolitical games'
Moscow, Nov 10 (IBNS): For the first time since the Indian Airlines flight IC-814 hijacking in 1999, India on Friday shared a table with the Taliban to have talks on peace in Afghanistan hosted by Russia where for the first time the Taliban militants are participants.
However India said it will not engage into a discussion with the Taliban representatives, according to media reports.
In response to queries regarding India's participation in a meeting on Afghanistan hosted by Russia, the Official Spokesperson of India's Ministry of External Affairs said: "Our participation at the meeting will be at the non-official level."
"We are aware that the Russian Federation is hosting a meeting in Moscow on 9 November on Afghanistan. India supports all efforts at peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan that will preserve unity and plurality, and bring security, stability and prosperity to the country. India's consistent policy has been that such efforts should be Afghan-led, Afghan-owned, and Afghan-controlled and with participation of the Government of Afghanistan."
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Raveesh Kumar was also quoted by The Indian Express saying, "Where did we say that there will be talks with Taliban? We did not say that India will talk to Taliban.”
Sergey #Lavrov took part in the opening of the 2nd round of the Moscow format consultations on Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/Ebp0RbNSi4
— MFA Russia 🇷🇺 (@mfa_russia) November 9, 2018
Dismissing that India had attended out of compulsion the meeting, which was held at a non-official level, Kumar told the newspaper, "There was no compulsion for us to attend the meeting. We took a considered decision to attend the meeting at a non-official level."
Russia said that no one should play "geopolitical games". It also stated that the participation of Taliban and Afghan High Peace Council was aimed at making an atmosphere of direct talks.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said as quoted by The Indian Express, "No one should think in terms of geopolitical games that may result in another transformation of Afghanistan into a field for competition between external players with drastic consequences both for the Afghans and their neighbours.”
Sources told The Indian Express that Indian representatives- former Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan Amar Sinha and former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan T C A Raghavan- did not make any comment on behalf of New Delhi in the course of the meeting.
The meeting was also attended by representatives from the US, Pakistan, China, Iran and central Asian countries.
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