Daily Times

Snubbed on supporting the terrorist outfits like Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and ISIS, India has made a failed attempt of “face saving” by sending its External Affairs Minister on trips to Russia and Iran to cover up the situation.

The security circles believe that India is feeling left out as the regional countries including Pakistan, Iran, Turkey and Russia stay in touch with the stakeholders of Afghanistan on the peace process after the U.S. troops are set for departure from Afghanistan in near future.

In Tehran, the Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif met Taliban negotiators to discuss their intentions towards the country, and secured a joint statement saying the Taliban do not support attacks on civilians, schools, mosques and hospitals and want a negotiated settlement on Afghanistan’s future.

The assurance by Taliban has landed India into worries, which for long has been misusing the situation against its neighbour, particularly Pakistan in incidents of terror.

Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar hurriedly paid his face saving visits to Iran and Russia to get into the loop of ‘Afghan affairs’ and portray his country as a “champion of peace” in the region.

Taliban has also assured Russia that it would not allow the country to be used as a platform to attack others. The scenario has panicked India, which is seeing its strategy of creating unrest in the region goes in vain. A delegation of the Taliban visited Moscow on Thursday to offer assurances that their quick gains on the ground in Afghanistan do not threaten Russia or its allies in Central Asia.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said the Kremlin envoy for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, met with the Taliban delegation to express concern about the escalation and tensions in northern Afghanistan. The ministry said Kabulov urged the Taliban “to prevent them from spreading beyond the country’s borders.”

“We received assurances from the Taliban that they wouldn’t violate the borders of Central Asian countries and also their guarantees of security for foreign diplomatic and consular missions in Afghanistan,” the ministry said.

Moscow, which fought a 10-year war in Afghanistan that ended with Soviet troops’ withdrawal in 1989, has made a diplomatic comeback as a mediator, reaching out to feuding Afghan factions as it has jockeyed with the U.S. for influence in the country.