India, Russia agree to coordinate approaches in multilateral formats on Afghan settlement

Emphasising the need to prevent escalation of violence in Afghanistan, India and Russia on Tuesday agreed to coordinate their approaches in multilateral formats regarding the Afghan settlement, informed Russian Embassy here.

This was agreed upon during the high-level meeting between India and Russia on the situation in Afghanistan.

During the meeting, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his Russian counterpart Nikolai Patrushev discussed Moscow and New Delhi joint efforts aimed at creating conditions for launching a peaceful settlement process on the basis of an intra-Afghan dialogue.

According to the Russian embassy here, Doval and Patrushev touched upon humanitarian and migration problems in Afghanistan.

This was a follow-up meeting of the two countries after the telephonic talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin in August.

"As a follow-up to the telephone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 24, an exchange of views took place on the military, political and socio-economic situation in Afghanistan," the Russian embassy said.

During the talks, the importance of "defining parameters of the future state structure of Afghanistan by the Afghans themselves, as well as the need to prevent the escalation of violence, social, ethnic and confessional contradictions in the country, were emphasized".

The meeting comes a day after the Taliban, which seized the control of the war-ravaged country on August 15, announced its new caretaker government on Tuesday, consisting of hardliners, devoid of any women in the decision-making process.

Following the Taliban takeover, Afghanistan has plunged into a crisis with reports of Taliban reprisal emerging from several provinces. Afghanistan is also witnessing protests against the Taliban.

Ajit Doval and Patrushev also touched upon humanitarian and migration problems in this country.

"They also touched upon humanitarian and migration problems in this country, as well as prospects for the Russian-Indian joint efforts aimed at creating conditions for launching a peaceful settlement process on the basis of an intra-Afghan dialogue," the embassy informed.

"In addition, the Sides agreed to coordinate the approaches of Russia and India in multilateral formats on the Afghan settlement," it said.

(ANI)