He learns that National Security Adviser Ajit Doval told his counterpart Nikolay Patrushev that Pakistan has a “special responsibility” to ensure that Afghanistan’s soil is not used to spread terrorism and hard carrying out activities against India. India has repeatedly said in recent weeks that its main goal now is to ensure that terrorist groups based in Pakistan do not use Afghan territory to attack other people.
Live updates on the crisis in Afghanistan
According to Russia, the two sides discussed the “humanitarian and migration problems” in Afghanistan, as well as the prospects of joint efforts between India and Russia aimed at creating the conditions for initiating a process of peaceful settlement on Afghanistan. basis for an intra-Afghan dialogue. “In addition, they agreed to coordinate the approaches of Russia and India in multilateral formats on the Afghan agreement,” the Russian statement said.
The meeting on Afghanistan was held a day before the BRICS summit, at which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to raise concerns about terrorism, as well as the OCS summit next week. , where Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan will also be present.
Despite the importance they attach to Pakistan’s role in Afghanistan, Russia and China are concerned about the presence of terrorist groups and India has highlighted Moscow and others other than the LeT and JeM, which are aimed at India and banned by the UN, they are as deadly as any other terrorist group. , if not more.
Official sources said this was the first “detailed and extensive” review of the situation in Afghanistan involving MEA, defense ministry and security agencies with Russia after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban on August 15 . , including Hindus and Sikhs in Afghanistan.
After the delegation talks, Patrushev called Modi and Foreign Minister S Jaishankar. At the meeting with Modi, according to a Russian press release, the two sides reaffirmed their intention to strengthen coordination to improve regional stability, including in Afghanistan.
According to Indian government sources, there was a convergence of views on issues and threats related to Afghanistan and both sides expressed their “deep concern” over the situation. They agreed on the need for the Taliban to fulfill its commitments and the “presence of international terrorist groups in Afghanistan and the threat of terrorism in Central Asia and India.” The parties also expressed similar views on Islamic radicalization and extremism, the flow of weapons to terrorist groups and smuggling on Afghan borders and also “the high chances of Afghanistan becoming the center of production and trafficking.” opi “.
“The two sides discussed concrete forms of future bilateral cooperation between security agencies, including close coordination, updating consultations and exchanging information,” an official said.
“The importance of defining the 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 religious contradictions in the country, was stressed,” Russia said. .
In separate comments, India’s envoy to Russia, Venkatesh Varma, said neither the Doha talks nor those of the Troika Plus have yielded adequate results. “India was not directly involved in the Doha talks. India was not part of the Troika Plus mechanism either … I think one lesson is that it is better for India and Russia to work together on Afghanistan. That is the most important lesson for us. ”
Speaking to RIA Novosti on the eve of the visit of the Russian NSA Patrushev, Varma said: “Now there is a new situation in Afghanistan. All foreign troops have left. The Taliban have taken over in Kabul, but the continuous instability ”.
“There are very rapid advances in Afghanistan … Press reports say several slogans were raised against external interference in Afghanistan, particularly from Pakistan.”
Expanding India’s recently articulated “Far East Policy,” which includes a $ 1 billion line of credit for Indian companies to participate in the development of Russia’s Far East, Varma said it would create “new connectivity and an energy bridge from Yamal to Vladivostok to Chennai, so energy is emerging as a very important pillar of our cooperation. ”