Talks with Taliban ‘reassuring’, ‘reasonable’, says Foreign Secretary Shringla

New Delhi remains watchful of government formation in Kabul

Four days after announcing that the Indian government has held talks with the Taliban in Doha, Foreign Secretary Harshvardhan Shringla said the Taliban thus far had been “reassuring” and “reasonable”, and also indicated that there had been more than one such engagement with the group that has claimed power in Afghanistan. “I think they [Taliban] have…made reassuring noises from their side. Our engagement with them has been limited, and it’s not that we have a robust conversation. But for whatever conversations we’ve had so far, the Taliban seem to indicate that they will be reasonable in the way they handle things,” Mr. Shringla told journalists during his visit to Washington on Friday. According to the government’s statements, the meeting with Taliban Political Office chief Muhammad Sher Abbas Stanekzai and Indian Ambassador to Qatar Deepak Mittal on Tuesday, was held at the Indian Embassy at the Taliban’s request. Officials indicated that it was part of the Taliban’s desire to reach out to countries with an interest in Afghanistan.