Pakistan not to attend Nov 10 NSA meet on Afghanistan convened by India

Asked at a media interaction if he would be travelling to India for the meet being convened by Indian NSA Ajit Doval, he said “I will not be going”, and added “a spoiler cannot be a peace maker”, in an apparent reference to India.

Five regional countries, Russia, Pakistan, China, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan have been invited by India to participate in the November 10 meeting.

Russia had convened the Moscow Format talks last month, which India had attended at the Joint Secretary level. Russia also convened the Troika Plus talks, involving Russia, the US, China, and Pakistan, on Afghanistan. However, the US did not attend.

The third meeting of the Moscow Format Consultations on Afghanistan was held on October 20, with the participation of special representatives or senior officials from Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, as well as a high-level delegation of the interim Afghan government.

A Taliban delegation led by Maulvi Abdul Salam Hanafi, Deputy Prime Minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, attended the talks in Moscow.

He separately met with JP Singh, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, which was India’s first high-level contact with the Taliban government in Kabul.

Iran also convened a meet on Afghanistan last week at the level of foreign ministers, attended by Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan ministers in Tehran, who were joined by their counterparts from China and Russia via video link.