In a high-level security dialogue with Russian National Security Advisor (NSA) Nikolay Patrushev, India stressed Pakistan’s ties with the Taliban and highlighted ISI’s links with terror groups in Afghanistan, including Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, the Times of India reported.
According to the report, India NSA Ajit Doval is learnt to have told his Russian counterpart that Pakistan has the “special responsibility” of ensuring that Afghanistan’s soil was not used to spread terrorism and carry out anti-India activities.
Russian NSA Patrushev landed in New Delhi on Tuesday, following which he held security dialogues over Afghanistan situation with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval.
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During the meeting, the two sides discussed “humanitarian and migration problems” in Afghanistan while also looking at the prospects for launching a peace process on the basis of an intra-Afghan dialogue with the help of joint efforts of India and Russia, a Russian statement said.
India has been continuously emphasizing the presence of India-oriented terrorist groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan to Moscow. Both Russia and China are concerned about the presence of terrorist groups in Afghanistan and the role of Pakistan in it.
This was the first official review of the security issues presented by Afghanistan around India which involved the Ministry of External Affairs and other security agencies with Russia after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban on August 15.
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“In addition, they agreed to coordinate the approaches of Russia and India in multilateral formats on the Afghan settlement,” the statement said.
After the delegate meeting, Patrushev called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. The two sides then reaffirmed the intention to strengthen coordination for enhancing regional stability, including in Afghanistan, the Russian statement said.
The meeting on Afghanistan between Russia and India came a day before the BRICS Summit. In the BRICS convention, PM Modi is expected to deliver a speech on concerns of terrorism and also during the SCO summit next week where Pakistan PM Imran Khan will also be present.
