India has highlighted that any peace move in the war-torn country must be Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled

Afghan-American Diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad has urged India to continue with its developmental activities in Afghanistan on his visit to New Delhi where he met External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Tuesday.

EAM S Jaishankar took to twitter and wrote, “Glad to receive Amb. Zalmay Khalilzad @US4AfghanPeace this evening. Useful discussions on the Doha Meeting and its follow-up.”


According to a report by The Economic Times, the US interlocutor for Afghan-Taliban talks came to Delhi following his trip to Islamabad and Doha. This was his fifth visit to India since January 2019. In the meeting, India referred to safeguarding Indian interests in Afghanistan from cross-border terror attacks and emphasised the need to eradicate terror from the area, the report said.

India further highlighted that any peace move in the area must be Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled. Both sides also discussed cooperative ways to further strengthen Afghan peace process. India made it clear that any progress towards the same will be made keeping in mind the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of Afghanistan. It said that the sides will respect and preserve the progress made in the establishment of democratic Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

Khalilzad informed the Indian officials about Pakistan’s steps to keep the Taliban on course in the peace talks. India, over the last weekend participated in the intra-Afghan talks with Joint Secretary in the MEA’s Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran division, J P Singh leading a delegation to Doha which included Deepak Mittal, the Indian ambassador to Qatar. The participation of India in peace talks along with the US made Pakistan nervous.

India reiterated its millennia old relationship with Afghanistan highlighting their collaborations in development projects with over 400 projects completed in all the 34 provinces of Afghanistan.

Read the full report in The Economic Times