Afghanistan slams Pakistan for hosting Taliban for talks, India says monitoring developments closely

New Delhi: Just last week, the world saw pictures of camaraderie and bonhomie between Taliban & Pakistan. However, Afghanistan has come hard on Islamabad for hosting the group.

Speaking to WION, President Ashraf Ghani's Spokesperson Sediq Sediqqi slammed Pakistan and said, "We don't know why these Taliban-Pakistan talks are happening!"

Explaining further, Sediq said, "The key to sustainable peace is in Afghanistan. This kind of hosting of the Taliban by Pakistan only emboldens them to continue and hold to their violence against the Afghan government."

Meanwhile, India is also "closely monitoring" the developments from Islamabad on the talks. 

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar, in his weekly presser on Friday, said, "All sections of the Afghan government, including legitimately-elected government, should be part of the peace process." 

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He also added that "all processes should respect the constitutional legacy and political mandate," clearly highlighting the exclusion of government in Kabul will not be accepted by India in any Afghan peace process.

New Delhi also said, no "ungoverned spaces were terrorist and their proxies can operate and where they can create bases to target India" should form as the outcome of any talks.

India did not have ties with Afghanistan when it was under Taliban control in the late 1990s. Pakistan was among the very few countries to have ties with Taliban controlled Afghanistan of the 1990s. India saw its plane being hijacked - Indian Airlines Flight 814 and taken to Kandahar in 1999 by Pakistan-based terrorist.

New Delhi is engaging with the United States and Afghanistan both on the recent developments in the south Asian country. 

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met with the US Special Envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad last week on the sidelines of United Nations General assembly (UNGA) in New York, the first meet since US President Donald Trump cancelled talks with Taliban.