In a move to reassure India and assuage its concern over plans by the Barack Obama administration to open talks with the Taliban, Special Representative on Afghanistan and Pakistan James Dobbins arrived in Delhi to discuss issues, including the “Afghan-led reconciliation process” initiated by Washington.
After visiting Qatar, Afghanistan and Pakistan over the course of four days, Dobbins today met Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai with another discussion scheduled with Prime Minister’s Special Envoy Satinder Lambah.
The decision to send Dobbins to New Delhi was announced by US Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday after he assured New Delhi that its apprehensions on the issue would neither be undermined nor overlooked.
Ahead of Kerry’s arrival in India on Sunday, India made it clear that any effort to resolve the problem in Afghanistan should be Afghan-led and nothing should be done that appeared to give either legitimacy to the insurgent group or show it on the same footing as the elected government there.
Secretary Kerry stated that the talks with the Taliban would be held not by the US but the Afghan High Peace Council and emphasised that the conditions for it had not been met. The conditions included respect for the Afghan Constitution, rights for women and minorities and no links with the Al-Qaida or violence.
A news report published in a Washington daily, however, said officials in the Obama administration stated last week that two conditions — eschewing international terrorism and recognising Afghan democracy — had been met.
Kerry also said any final outcome from discussions with the Taliban would be decided by the people of Afghanistan through this negotiation or when elections were held next year without the Taliban.
The move by the Taliban to open an office in Qatar last week under a flag and a plaque identifying itself as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan stirred a controversy with Karzai reacting strongly by pulling out from the scheduled talks with the US over exit plans for NATO forces there.
International wire services reported from Pakistan that Dobbins told Islamabad that Washington was “enraged” over the manner in which the Taliban opened its office, which was not quite in line with an agreement.
New Delhi’s concern
- India has expressed its concern over lending credence to the Taliban by involving it in Afghanistan peace talks;
- US Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday assured New Delhi that its apprehensions will not be overlooked;
- US Special Representative on Afghanistan and Pakistan James Dobbins has arrived in Delhi to assuage India’s concerns.
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