ISLAMABAD – Just to pacify isolated India over Afghanistan endgame,Khalilzad to visit Delhi for cover up visit.
After skipping India on his last two multi-nation tours, the US specialrepresentative for Afghanistan reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, willtravel to New Delhi during May 6-7 for consultations aimed at buildingsupport for the peace process.
While in India next week, Khalilzad is expected to hold talks withinterlocutors at a level similar to his discussions during his last visitin January, people familiar with developments said on Monday. The meetingswill give both sides an opportunity to exchange views on the latestdevelopments in Afghanistan as well as Khalilzad’s talks with the Taliban.
In January, Khalilzad had met external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj andforeign secretary Vijay Gokhale. He had also met former Afghan presidentHamid Karzai on the margins of the annual Raisina Dialogue, a multilateralconference held in Delhi.
Khalilzad skipped India during a multi-nation tour from March 25 to April10 and an earlier tour in February. This created an impression in somequarters in New Delhi that he was keeping India out of the loop andaligning with Pakistan for the talks with the Taliban.