NEW DELHI – With Afghanistan on Indian strategists mind, 2+2 India USstrategic dialogues were held.

Officials from United States and India attended 2+2 Ministerial Dialoguemeeting on Friday to discuss the diplomatic stance on the Indo-Pacificregion as well as peace and stability in Afghanistan, Indian media reportedon Saturday.

Alice Wells, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State andAssistant Secretary of Defense Randall Schriver met India’s Joint Secretaryof the Ministry of External Affairs Gourangalal Das and Joint Secretary ofIndia’s Ministry of Defense Shambhu Kumaran for an inter-sessional 2+2Ministerial Dialogue between US and India, the US Embassy in India said ina statement as quoted by ANI.

“The two sides discussed our strong strategic partnership and ways toadvance our cooperation on critical diplomatic and security priorities,including our shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific region and astable and prosperous Afghanistan,” said the statement.

The first round of the 2+2 talks was held in New Delhi last year inSeptember, ANI said in a report.

The 2+2 Dialogue between India and the United States was launched as areflection of the shared commitment made by India’s Prime Minister NarendraModi and US President Donald Trump to provide a positive, forward-lookingvision for the India-US strategic partnership and to promote synergy intheir diplomatic and security affairs, the statement said.

This comes as the US Special Representative for Afghanistan ReconciliationZalmay Khalilzad met India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj andForeign Secretary Vijay Gokhale in New Delhi on Friday where they discussedthe Afghan peace process and the situation in Afghanistan.

In this meeting, Indian officials emphasized that the peace andreconciliation process in the Afghanistan “must be Afghan-led, Afghan-ownedand Afghan-controlled”.