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EAM Jaishankar compares US-Taliban peace deal to Pakeezah movie trailer release  

WION
New Delhi, Delhi, IndiaWritten By: Sidhant SibalUpdated: Mar 02, 2020, 10:16 PM IST
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External Affair Minister S Jaishankar. Photograph:(ANI)

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According to the deal, foreign forces will leave the country and the Taliban will be delisted from the United Nations Security Council's sanctions list.

In his first reaction to historic peace deal inked between the Taliban and the United States in Doha on Saturday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that the agreement was akin to yesteryear's blockbuster Pakeezah and added, while it was "not a surprise", the current situation in Afghanistan is being carefully watched. 

"What we saw.. in a way it was not a surprise. Everybody knew, It is being talked about for so long. It was like finally seeing Pakeezah after 17 trailers," he said.

"Issue for us is that for at the moment the United States is talking in terms of thining down its presence and providing support to the government in Kabul. How that plays out, time will tell," he explained. 

According to the deal, foreign forces will leave the country and the Taliban will be delisted from the United Nations Security Council's sanctions list.

EAM said India's message to the "US and to the West" is that "achievements of the last 18 years is in global interest that those achievements are secured, protected and not jeopardized."

He said while India will "wait and see how this plays out", real negotiations "will start now and then we will have to see many of the assumptions that we had, how cohesive are various players, what do they do and what are their demands. Does the Taliban join a democratic setup or does a democratic setup adjusts to the Taliban."

India's official policy has been an "Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled" peace talks. New Delhi has emerged as a major partner of Kabul in last 18 year and helping develop infrastructure projects like the National Parliament in Kabul and the India Afghanistan friendship dam in Herat and many community and capacity building projects. 

India's foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla was in Kabul on Friday and Saturday and called on President Dr. Ashraf Ghani, Chief Executive Dr. Abdullah Abdullah and former President Hamid Karzai, First Vice President-elect Amrullah Saleh, NSA Dr. Hamdullah Mohib, Acting Foreign Minister Mohammad Haroon Chakhansuri and Acting Finance Minister Abdul Zadran.