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India Not Taken Into Confidence On Many Aspects Of US-Taliban Deal: S Jaishankar

Mumbai: India wasn’t taken into confidence on “various aspects” of last year’s deal between the US and the Taliban, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said.

He further said that it still isn’t clear whether Afghanistan will have an inclusive government or whether Afghan soil will not be used for terror.

Speaking virtually at the annual leadership summit of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), Jaishankar said that even though India and the US are on the same page on many issues related to development in Afghanistan, there are aspects where the positions of the two countries are not exactly the same, as per the news agency PTI.

According to the news agency, the minister said that these issues have given rise to legitimate concerns in India and other countries regarding the situation in Afghanistan.

According to a Hindustan Times report, Jaishankar said, “When I talk about the level of concern, the commitments made by the Taliban in Doha… The US knows that best, we were not taken into confidence on various aspects of that.”

In the report, the minister said, “So, whatever deals were struck in Doha – there is a broad understanding but beyond that, are we going to see an inclusive government, are we going to see respect for the rights of women, children and minorities? Most importantly, are we going to see an Afghanistan whose soil is not used for terrorism against other states and the rest of the world?”

Afghanistan remained one of the important topics between Modi and Biden in Washington last week.

“There will be issues on which we will agree more, there will be issues on which we will agree less. Our experiences in some respects are different from yours (the US). We have been victims of cross-border terrorism ourselves from that region and that has shaped in many ways our view of some of the neighbours of Afghanistan,” he said, in an apparent reference to Pakistan.

The external affairs minister said it is for the US to decide whether it shares that view, adding that India has concerns over the developments in Afghanistan.

(With Agency Inputs)

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