TALIBAN...

ban. There are various elements there that Pakistan supported, so its role has to be seen in that context,” he said.

India is closely engaged with the US on developments in Afghanistan, and both sides have adopted a wait and watch policy towards the Taliban and are calibrating their actions in response to the evolving situation, he added.

Shringla contended that India’s concerns related to Afghanistan, especially the use of Afghan soil for terrorism, had been addressed in a UN resolution adopted last month. This resolution, he said, mentioned Un-designated terror groups such as Jaish-e-mohammed and Lashkar-e-taiba.

“So we do have concerns about the free ingress that these two terrorist groups have had in Afghanistan, their role and we will watch that carefully,” he said. Shringla acknowledged that India currently has no immediate substantial engagement with Afghanistan, and described New Delhi’s contacts with the Taliban as limited. “Our engagement with them (Taliban) has been limited. It’s not that we have a robust conversation. But from whatever conversations we’ve had so far, the Taliban seem to indicate they will be reasonable in the way they handle things,” he said.

“I don’t see members of the international community being passive over the situation in Afghanistan. We are not there on the ground, [we] have no assets there. It’s not like we are not doing anything, we are in touch with every country that has an interest in Afghanistan,” he added.

After months of informal contacts with the group, India’s ambassador to Qatar, Deepak Mittal, held talks with senior Taliban leader Sher Mohammed Abbas Stanekzai on Tuesday, the first officially acknowledged