India is likely to host the third edition of the Delhi Regional Security Dialogue on Afghanistan on November 10, two months after the Taliban took control of Kabul, sources told News18 on Friday. The NSA-level talks will be chaired by India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval.
Apart from central Asian nations, the summit will see participation from Russia as well as Iran, the first time that countries not immediately bordering Afghanistan will participate in the conference.
The first two editions of the dialogue were held in Iran in September 2018 and December 2019. The third scheduled meeting in India had to be postponed in view if the Covid-19 pandemic. The situation took a 180-degree turn in Afghanistan in the interim with the Taliban sweeping to power as the US troops withdrew after a two-decade war and Afghan troops trained by them melted away.
Invitations to the conference had also been extended to China and Pakistan, but the latter’s NSA Moeed Yusuf had conveyed through the media that he would not be attending. Formal responses from both are awaited.
“Pakistan’s decision is unfortunate, but not surprising. It reflects its mindset of viewing Afghanistan as its protectorate. Pakistan has not attended the previous meetings of this format. Its media comments against India are an unsuccessful attempt to deflect attention from its pernicious role in Afghanistan,” a source in the Indian government said.
The dialogue comes two weeks after an Indian delegation met a Taliban delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister of Afghanistan’s interim government Abdul Salam Hanafi in Moscow and expressed readiness to provide extensive humanitarian assistance to the war-torn country. The Indian delegation was led by JP Singh, the joint secretary of the Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran division of the Ministry of External Affairs.
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