Ahead of Turkey meet, Afghan President Ghani briefs Indian, other envoys on his peace plan

Ahead of the meeting in Turkey on the Afghan peace process later this month, Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani has briefed envoys all Kabul-based ambassadors, including Indian envoy to the country Rudrendra Tandon, on his three-stage peace process.

The Turkey meet will see the fresh impetus for the Afghan peace process, under the UN umbrella as proposed by the new Biden administration in the US.

Afghan government sources told WION that the president "has presented his peace plan literally to all international partners and sides".

According to Afghan media reports, President Ghani's proposal includes "preservation of constitution", a transitional government, and holding of presidential elections. The proposal is expected to be formally unveiled at the Turkey meet.

The US has also proposed a regional framework for talks with the involvement of six countries--Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran, India, and the US-- under the United Nations for a "unified approach to supporting peace in Afghanistan".

Last week, at the Heart of Asia meet in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, India's External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar had called for a "genuine ‘double peace’" in Afghanistan, which is "peace within Afghanistan and peace around Afghanistan" that "requires harmonising the interests of all, both within and around that country."

Last year, India attended both the US-Taliban pact signing and the start of the intra-Afghan talks in Doha.

On the Afghan peace process, India has been engaging with the Afghan government and other stakeholders.

March saw the visit of Afghan Foreign Minister Mohammad Haneef Atmar to India, while last year saw high-level visits by senior Afghan leaders Dr Abdullah Abdullah, Ata Noor and Abdul Rashid Dostum. Earlier this year, India's National Security Adviser Ajit Doval was in Kabul, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Afghan President also held a virtual meet for the inauguration for work on Shahtoot dam that will provide clean drinking water to people of the national capital Kabul.