India is in “close contact” with both Moscow and Washington over developments in Afghanistan, official sources said, with two high-level intelligence delegations to Delhi this week. An American delegation of intelligence and security officials and Russian officials to held consultation with National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval on Tuesday to discuss a number of issues arising from the Afghanistan evacuation effort and Taliban government formation.
The American delegation is led by Chief of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) William Burns, is visiting the region including India and Pakistan. On Wednesday, the Russian Secretary of the Security Council General Nikolay Patrushev will meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, NSA Doval and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, the MEA announced. The separate meetings with U.S. and Russian officials in South Block come as the Taliban announced an acting or interim government led by Mohammad Hasan Akhund, and Abdul Ghani Baradar as deputy Prime Minister. Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin had on August 24 discussed the developments in Afghanistan and expressed the view that it was important for the two countries to work together. The MEA said Patrushev is visiting India at the invitation of NSA Doval for high-level India-Russia inter-governmental consultations on Afghanistan. They are also significant given upcoming summits that Prime Minister Modi will attend of the SCO and Quad formations, where Russia and the U.S. play leading roles respectively, and both are expected to focus on the future course in Afghanistan.
