19 years after it deployed troops in Afghanistan in response to the 9/11 terror attacks, the US is set to sign a deal with the Taliban today. India will attend the landmark signing event of the long-sought peace deal between the US and the Taliban as an “observer”.
The agreement, which will be signed in Qatar’s capital Doha, will see the phased withdrawal of thousands of US troops from Afghanistan and require the Taliban to initiate a formal dialogue with the Afghan government and other political and civil society groups on a permanent nationwide ceasefire and power-sharing in postwar Afghanistan.The US has lost 2,352 soldiers in Afghanistan since late 2001.
This is the first time that India will officially attend an event involving the Taliban. India’s envoy to Qatar P Kumaran will attend the ceremony after India was invited by the Qatar government.India has been a key stakeholder in the peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan. However, New Delhi is apprehensive of what the US-Taliban deal means to egional stability.
“Foreign Secretary conveyed India’s support to government and people of Afghanistan in their efforts to bring peace and stability through an inclusive & Afghan-led, Afghan-owned & Afghan-controlled efforts,” Foreign Minister Raveesh Kumar said in a series of tweets.
Ahead of the signing of the deal, the US and the Taliban had agreed to a seven-day cooling-off period which passed peacefully. The truce came last Friday night
In November 2018, India had sent two former diplomats in “non-official” capacity to a Russia-organised conference on Afghan peace process in Moscow. A high-level Taliban delegation, representatives of Afghanistan as well as from several other countries, including the US, Pakistan and China, had attended the conference.
