Focus on terror in US, Russia talks with India
NEW DELHI: India has conveyed to top security and intelligence officials of the UK, the US and Russia its concerns over Pakistan’s links with the Taliban and foreign terrorist groups operating in Afghanistan, and the need for steps to prevent instability spilling over into the wider region, including India.
The officials of the three countries made a beeline for India to discuss the situation in Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover and its implications for regional security -- an indication, also, of the understanding among the world’s powers that India is an important stakeholder in the issue.
Richard Moore, the head of the UK Secret Intelligence Service or MI6, was the first of the visitors over the past week, and he was followed on Tuesday by Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director William Burns. Both spy chiefs and their teams met national security adviser Ajit Doval and top members of the National Security Council Secretariat, people familiar with developments said on condition of anonymity.
On Wednesday, Doval met Nikolay Patrushev, secretary of Russia’s security council. Patrushev visited India at Doval’s invitation for high-level bilateral consultations on Afghanistan, the external affairs ministry said.
At these meetings, the Indian side pointed to Pakistan’s longstanding links with the Taliban
and other foreign terror groups operating in Afghanistan, and also raised the special responsibility that Islamabad has in ensuring that Afghan soil is not used to spread terrorism, the people cited above said.
The Indian side also highlighted the links between Pakistan’s Inter-services Intelligence (ISI) and terror groups such as Lashkar-e-taiba (LET) and Jaishe-mohammed (JEM) that are active in Afghanistan.
The visits came against the backdrop of the old guard of the Taliban tightening its grip on power in Afghanistan a little more than two weeks after the group marched into Kabul on August 15, following the chaotic collapse of the Ashraf Ghani government.
Just three days after a visit to Kabul by the ISI chief, Lt Gen Faiz Hameed, the Taliban on Tuesday announced a 33-member interim setup led by veteran political leader Mohammad Hasan Akhund, a close aide of the group’s founder, Mullah Mohammad Omar, who died in 2013.
The people cited above said the meetings with the MI6 and CIA chiefs and the Russian security official looked at the way forward on Afghanistan, especially at a time when Russia and China appear to be veering towards the possible recognition of the Taliban dispensation.
Burns and his team interacted with Doval and key members of the National Security Council Secretariat, including deputy national security adviser Rajinder Khanna and Lt Gen (retired) VG Khandare, the secretariat’s military adviser, the people said.
While the external affairs ministry announced Patrushev’s visit, there was no official word from any side on the trips by the British and American spy chiefs. A spokesperson for the British high commission said: “We do not comment on intelligence matters.”
The high-level India-russia consultations on Afghanistan were the first such review of the situation after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban, and involved officials from the external affairs and defence ministries and security agencies. Both sides expressed deep concern at developments in Afghanistan and there was convergence on major issues, such as the need for Taliban to adhere to their commitments and the threat posed by foreign terrorists in Afghanistan to Central Asia and India, the people said.
There was also convergence on the threat posed by the flow of weapons to terror groups and smuggling across Afghanistan’s borders and the high chances of the war-torn country becoming a hub for opium production and trafficking.
India and Russia also discussed concrete forms of bilateral cooperation, including upgrading consultations and exchange of information, the people said.
A statement by the Russian embassy noted the importance of letting Afghans define the “parameters of the future state structure of Afghanistan”, and the need to prevent any escalation of violence. The two sides also discussed humanitarian and migration problems in Afghanistan, and the prospects for joint efforts by India and Russia to create conditions for “launching a peaceful settlement process on the basis of an intra-afghan dialogue”, the statement said.
The meeting between Doval and Patrushev was a follow-up to the phone conversation between PM Modi and President Vladimir Putin on August 24, during which the two leaders agreed to remain in close touch on the Afghanistan issue. Patrushev later met Modi and discussed cooperation on a wide range of issues, and ways to develop the bilateral special and privileged strategic partnership. Patrushev also meet external affairs minister S Jaishankar and exchanged views on international and regional problems, including Afghanistan.