A top Indian official said on Monday his country backs a peace settlement in Afghanistan which will ensure stability and not leave ungoverned spaces for terrorists or their proxies to take advantage of.
The comments come as US and Taliban have agreed to a peace accord in principle that centers on US troop withdrawal in return for Taliban commitment not to allow Afghanistan to be used by militant groups for attacks on the US and its allies.
“We support all peace initiatives. We have been a part of all of them and in some cases when we were not part of them initially we have been supportive of them,” India’s Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said.
“Our issue has been what is the post-settlement situation. In that regard, our situation has been clear, we support a system which has constitutional legitimacy, which has a political mandate, which will ensure stability and most importantly not leave ungoverned spaces for terrorists or their proxies to take advantage of,” he said at a press conference on Indian prime minister’s visit to Russia this week.
Gokhale said that India is on the same page with Russia on Afghanistan issue. “We are in touch with each other,” he said.
