As the US and the Taliban are set to ink a peace deal on Saturday in Qatar,  Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Friday travelled to Kabul and conveyed India’s unstinted support to a peaceful and stable Afghanistan.

India’s Ambassador to Qatar P Kumaran is slated to attend the ceremony where the US and Taliban will strike the peace deal. It will be for the first time India will officially attend an event involving the Taliban.

The Foreign Secretary held talks with acting Foreign Minister of Afghanistan Haroon Chakhansuri and apprised him about India’s views on the peace deal as well as its commitment for all-round development of the country.

External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said here on Friday Shringla and Chakhansur reviewed and positively assessed developments in bilateral strategic partnership.

The US and the Taliban are set to sign a peace deal at a ceremony in Doha on Saturday which will provide for the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan nearly 18 years after their deployment in the country. “Foreign Secretary conveyed India’s support for the people of Afghanistan in their pursuit for sustainable peace, security and development,” Kumar tweeted.

India has been a key stakeholder in the peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan.  In a significant move, India had sent two former diplomats in “non-official” capacity to a conference on Afghan peace process in Moscow in November 2018.

The conference organised by Russia was attended by a high-level Taliban delegation, representatives of Afghanistan as well as from several other countries, including the US, Pakistan and China.

Major powers such as the US, Russia and Iran have been reaching out to the Taliban as part of efforts to push the stalled Afghan peace process.  India has been supporting a national peace and reconciliation process which is Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan controlled.

India has also been maintaining that care should be taken to ensure that any such process does not lead to any “ungoverned spaces” where terrorists and their proxies can relocate.

Ahead of peace deal, India has conveyed to the US that pressure on Pakistan to crack down on terror networks operating from its soil must be kept up though Islamabad’s cooperation for peace in Afghanistan is crucial.