Indian Ministry of External Affairs respond over Army Chief statement on Taliban
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NEW DELHI - Indian Ministry of External Affairs has reacted on Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat statement saying that "there should be talks with Taliban" but without "any preconditions".
MEA said, "Our position on Afghanistan has been clear and consistent. We have said in the past, India supports the peace and reconciliation efforts in Afghanistan. We support the process which is inclusive towards achieving this goal and there has been no change in the position."
Rawat had said New Delhi needs to sit on the "high table" and "if a number of other countries are talking to the Taliban, do we have interest in Afghanistan? If the answer is yes, then you can't be out of the bandwagon."
Pakistan, Iran, Russia, and the US have been engaging with the Taliban. Iran has even offered its own communication lines to India to engage with the Taliban. India as a policy does not engage with the Taliban but did send "non-official" representatives to Moscow to talk on Afghanistan in which the Taliban was also present.
New Delhi sent two former diplomats- Amar Sinha, India's former envoy to Afghanistan and TCA Raghavan to the talks in Russia.
