English
New Delhi: Taliban, the new Afghan rulers have indicated that they would be reasonable in addressing New Delhi’s concerns, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said when asked to comment on the recent meeting of Deepak Mittal, Indian Ambassador to Qatar with a senior Taliban leader Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai in Doha.
Speaking to a group of Indian reporters at the end of his three-day official visit to Washington DC, Shringla also claimed that Pakistan ‘supported and nurtured’ the Taliban and India, the United States are closely watching the neighbouring country’s actions in Afghanistan.
“Obviously, like us, they’re also watching carefully and we have to watch Pakistan’s actions with a fine-tooth comb,” he told media persons, adding that the US will have a wait-and-watch policy with regard to how the situation evolves in Afghanistan.
India also has a similar policy. “That doesn’t mean you don’t do anything. It simply means that you have to… the situation is very fluid on the ground, you have to allow it to see how it evolves. You have to see whether the assurances that have been made publicly are actually maintained on the ground, and how things work out,” Shringla stated.
Our engagement with them (Taliban) has been limited. It's not that we have a robust conversation. But for whatever conversations we've had so far, the Taliban seem to indicate that they will be reasonable in the way they handle things: Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla pic.twitter.com/wa9X08iw85
— ANI (@ANI) September 4, 2021
When asked about India’s stand on UNSC delisting of Taliban, Shringla said,”We’ve to see how situation evolves. Are we immediately going to take steps? Don’t think so. Are we going to calibrate decisions according to what happens? I think that would be the case.”
Notably, Shringla was in Washington DC for a series of meetings with his American counterpart and top officials of the Biden administration in addition to interaction with representations from the industry and think tanks. His visit came at a time when the situation in Afghanistan is rapidly evolving. Taliban took over the strife-torn country on August 15.
(With agency inputs)
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