Afghan developments: India in contact with US and Russia

Ground Report | New Delhi: Afghan developments; The Taliban on Tuesday announced the top leadership of their government in Afghanistan. The announcement came about a month after the Taliban captured Kabul. Taliban's chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told a news conference on Tuesday evening that it is an interim government and Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, the Taliban's main leader and head of the Shura Council, will be the caretaker prime minister.

Mullah Akhund was the deputy foreign minister in the previous Taliban regime in Afghanistan and was on the blacklist of the United Nations. (Afghan developments)

ALSO READ: Who is Mullah Hasan Akhund?

Afghan developments

According to the report of the Hindu, India is in close contact with both the US and Russia amid important development in Afghanistan. According to the report of the newspaper, a high-level intelligence delegation of both countries is coming to Delhi this week.

"A delegation led by William Burns, the American intelligence agency Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), is reaching India and Pakistan. This delegation will talk to India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on many issues related to Afghanistan.

'The Secretary-General of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Petrushev will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, NSA Ajit Doval, and Foreign Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday. This meeting has been announced by the Ministry of External Affairs of India.

The newspaper says that the Indian Foreign Ministry and the US Embassy in India have neither denied nor accepted the visit of William Burns. The Indian government is meeting with high-level officials from the US and Russia after the Taliban announced the leadership of their government in Afghanistan. The Taliban has appointed Mullah Ghani Baradar as deputy prime minister.

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This leadership of the Taliban will also be important for the coming international conferences. Prime Minister Modi is going to attend the meetings of SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) and the Quad faction, Russia and the US are the most important of the two factions.

CIA chief and Russian security is in India

The issue of Afghanistan will be at the center of both the meetings. General Petrushev is Russia's top-level security official. He was Secretary of the Security Council until 2008. Prior to this, he held the command of the Russian intelligence agency FBS. On August 24, there was a phone conversation between PM Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding Afghanistan.

As the differences between the two countries increase regarding Afghanistan, a high-level team of America and Russia is reaching India. This is when Troik Plus was created two years ago to coordinate on Afghanistan and China, Pakistan was also involved in it.

Last week, Russia accused US-led Western nations at the UN Security Council of ignoring threats to Central Asia from the Islamic State (focused on Iraq and Syria) and the East Turkestan Islamic Movement.

India was then presiding over the UN Security Council. China and Russia boycotted the vote on Security Council Resolution 2593 on Afghanistan. Russia is one of six countries whose embassy in Kabul is still functioning after the arrival of the Taliban. This indicates that Russia is more excited to work with the Taliban, while the US and its allies in the West, including India, have moved embassies in Kabul to Doha, the capital of Qatar.

India has shown no enthusiasm in evacuating people from Afghanistan. A total of 565 people have been brought to India from Afghanistan. Of these, 112 are Afghan citizens. Apart from this, India has issued hardly a few dozen e-visas while thousands of Afghan nationals have applied.

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