With most of the Indians now evacuated from Afghanistan, the Indian government said its “primary and immediate” concern was to prevent any terrorism threat from Afghanistan to India under the Taliban-led regime.
In response to questions on the logic and nature of the Indian ambassador to Qatar’s meeting with the head of the Taliban’s political office in Doha, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) reiterated that the meeting was requested at the behest of the Taliban, and would neither confirm nor do so. He denies whether India still considers the group a terrorist organization.
“Let us take the Doha meeting as it is… it is just a meeting. These are very early days,” said foreign ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi, when asked whether India recognized the Taliban government. Might consider giving, officials said, likely to be announced soon.
“We used the opportunity to express our concerns, be it on evacuating people [from Afghanistan], or on activities related to anti-India terrorism. We got a positive response,” he said.
Haqqani issue
Mr Bagchi, however, did not respond to a question about the Haqqani group, one of the entities designated by the United Nations as a terrorist group and a key member of the Taliban.
Taliban deputy leader Sirajuddin Haqqani is wanted for several attacks on the Indian embassy and consulates in Afghanistan, including a suicide bombing in 2008 in which Indian diplomats were among 58 people killed, and Kabul’s Gurdwara Har Rai Sahib in 2020. The attack, according to the Afghan intelligence agency NDS at the time, killed 25 people, where the Haqqani network is believed to have cooperated with the Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K).
While India’s chief negotiator in the Taliban, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanakzai, who called for a meeting with Indian ambassador to Qatar Deepak Mittal on Tuesday, is expected to be the foreign minister of the new Afghan government, New Delhi will view this role with concern. . Haqqani will be played by the leadership.
Asked why the Taliban had called for the meeting, Mr Bagchi said he “assumed that the Taliban wanted to reach all countries that have interests, and are relevant”. “We wouldn’t have taken such a step without thinking.” [meeting the Taliban]. Our main, primary and immediate concern is that the soil of Afghanistan should not be used for anti-India activities or terrorist activities. This is our focus,” he insisted.
Mr Bagchi told reporters at the external affairs ministry’s weekly media briefing that very few Indians are yet to be evacuated from Afghanistan, and that the 24×7 Afghanistan Special Cell is in touch with them. However, flying them out would depend on the resumption of flights from Kabul, and concerns were expressed about them at the Doha meeting.
Taliban not announced
The Stankzai-Mittal discussion in Doha raised several other questions, as the meeting has been announced by Delhi despite the Taliban reportedly requesting a meeting. Since Tuesday, Taliban spokesman Muhammad Naeem Wardak has issued tweets on a number of other engagements, including meetings with the Taliban’s political office, with diplomats from Canada, China, the Netherlands and Turkey, but did not give any information about the meeting with India.
“It’s up to them, and I’ll tell you about it [Taliban] As for the answer,” Mr Bagchi said, there was no specific “idea” behind the fact that no photographs of the incident were recorded.
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