Afghan foreign ministry lauds India's role in Afghan peace process

Afghanistan's government has lauded the support it has received from India, especially on the Afghan peace process. Afghan foreign ministry's spokesperson Sibghatullah Ahmadi spoke to WION from Kabul and said, "India supports a peaceful Afghanistan" with its backing of the Afghan government.

Ahmadi has welcomed the regional and international efforts for facilitating direct talks between the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and Taliban representatives "in particular Germany and India’s recent engagements in this regard".

He further called for "tangible actions to be taken by Pakistan aimed at peace in Afghanistan".

The development comes even as last weeks saw hectic engagements in New Delhi regarding the Afghan peace process. US permanent representative on Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad, Chinese special envoy on Afghanistan Deng Xijun and chief executive of the Afghan High Peace Council Mohammad Omar Daudzai visited Delhi this month and met External Affair Minister Sushma Swaraj and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval to discuss the developments in the landlocked South Asian country.

India had also discussed the Afghan peace process with the visiting Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif. Deepak Mittal, joint secretary in the Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran (PAI) division of the Ministry of External Affairs met Russian special envoy on Afganistan Zamir Kabulov in Moscow regarding the same.

India supports Afghan-led, owned and controlled peace process and is one of the major development partners of Kabul.