India and former Northern Alliance leader Atta Noor discuss increased level of violence in Afghanistan

Atta Mohammad Noor, a Prominent Afghan politician and former member of the Northern Alliance resistance group against the Taliban has had a series of meeting with India's external affairs minister Dr S Jaishankar and Foreign Secretary Harsh V Shringla in New Delhi and discussed the recent increase in violence in Afghanistan even as the peace process is underway.

Ministry of external affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava in response to a WION question said,  "During the meeting views were exchanged on the current situation in Afghanistan including on the ongoing peace process and the increased level of violence in Afghanistan. We reiterated our long-term commitment towards the reconstruction and development of Afghanistan".

The peace process or the intra Afghan talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban which started in September are underway but increasingly the country. Recently heavy violence was seen in the country's southern Helmand province backed by the Taliban. This comes ahead of US troops withdrawal from the country by Christmas as announced by US President Donal Trump.

Earlier speaking to WION, Atta Noor said, "India has the right and should engage the Taliban and in line with their national interests".

Atta Noor is the third prominent politician to visit India in the last one month. Earlier Abdul Rashid Dostum, former vice president of Afghanistan and Chairperson of Afghanistan's High Council for National Reconciliation Dr. Abdullah Abdullah had visited India.

In 2016, he personally took up arms back to repel a terrorist attack on the Indian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif and protected it. During the Taliban rein in the country in 1990s, Noor had served as a commander in Ahmad Shah Massoud's Nothern front.