New Delhi:
India has got an invite for the Moscow Format meeting on Afghanistan on October 20 and it will participate in the deliberations, the Ministry of External Affairs stated on Thursday.
This will be the 1st Moscow format dialogue considering the fact that the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban in August.
While India had its 1st formal make contact with with the Taliban in Doha on August 31, the Moscow Format is most likely to be the 1st formal make contact with amongst New Delhi and the Taliban government right after an interim Cabinet was announced by them.
Asked about the meeting, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi stated, “We have received an invitation for the Moscow Format meeting on Afghanistan on October 20. We will be participating in it.”
“I don’t have a final confirmation as to who would be attending but it is likely that we will have (participation) at the joint secretary level,” he stated.
Russia has been holding the ‘Moscow Format’ of talks considering the fact that 2017 to address Afghan concerns. Several rounds of talks have been held in Moscow considering the fact that 2017.
On any humanitarian help India is extending or has extended to Afghanistan, Bagchi stated India’s policy towards Afghanistan is guided by its friendship with the Afghan individuals.
India has in the previous offered help each for infrastructure as properly as for humanitarian purposes, he stated.
“Coming specifically to humanitarian assistance you would recall that the UN secretary general had convened a meeting on the subject on September 13 in which External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar participated. In his intervention… our approach to the issue of humanitarian assistance was laid out very clearly,” he stated.
“This includes India’s willingness to continue to stand by the Afghan people, the need for the international community to create the best possible enabling environment, the unimpeded, unrestricted and direct access to humanitarian assistance providers and non discriminatory distribution,” Bagchi stated.
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