New Delhi: India on Thursday said that it supported the Afghan presidential election process and was confident that the US would accommodate its concerns during peace talks with the Taliban.
This was the first Indian official response after US President Donald Trump dropped a surprise announcement on Twitter that he had invite the Taliban and Afghan president for a secret meeting at Camp David on September 9 – but cancelled it over the recent attack in Kabul.
At the weekly briefing, ministry of external affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said that India has been closely monitoring developments in Afghanistan, including the proposed meeting.
“We believe that all sections of Afghan society, including legitimately elected government should be part of this (peace) process,” said Kumar.
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He then specifically backed the ongoing election process for presidential polls on September 28, which had faced uncertainty due to concerns in Washington that it would hinder talks with Taliban.
“We have supported the election process which is about to unfold,” said Kumar.
Previously, India had expressed support for the presidential election process through a joint statement with France issued during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit last month.
“Our point of view is that any process should respect the constitutional legacy and political mandate, should not lead to any ungoverned spaces where proxies can relocate and should have full consent of the afghan people and the government,” said the senior Indian diplomat.
He added that India was “reasonably confident that any decision on the peace process taken by the international community, including the US, will accommodate our concerns”.
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“We have shared these concerns at different interval, including during the visit of Special envoy on Afghanistan (Zalmay Khalilzad) various times in the past few months,” Kumar stated.
India has been warily watching the urgency shown in the US to conclude an agreement with Talban and begin the withdrawal of its troops as per the agreed timetable. The Afghan government had already expressed concerns over the proposed US-Taliban deal, whose outline had been delineated by Khalilzad.
New Delhi would want US troops to remain in Afghanistan as long as possible and prevent a Taliban-dominated government taking the reins after the conclusion of a peace deal.