India, Russia to hold consultations on Afghanistan on Sept 8 in Delhi

India and Russia will hold consultations in Delhi on Wednesday on the ongoing situation in Afghanistan, a direct outcome of the talksheld between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 24.

In the 45-minute-long conversation, both the leaders had decided to form a “permanent bilateral channel” for consultations on Afghanistan.

The Wednesday talks would be led by Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and the visiting Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation General NikolaiPatrushev.

A release by the Ministry of External Affairs said, “At the invitation of National Security Adviser Ajit K Doval, the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, General Nikolay Patrushev is visiting India for high-level India-Russia inter-governmental consultations on Afghanistan from 7-8 September 2021.”

The meeting comes hours after the Taliban announced the name of new leaders of its government. Mullah Hassan Akhund was named as the Prime Minister and he will have two deputies—Mullah Baradar and Mawlavi Hannafi. Sirajuddin Haqqani was named as the interior minister and Amir Khan Muttaqi was chosen as the foreign minister.

Notably, all of them are on the UN terror list, while Sirajuddin Haqqani carries a bounty of $5 million announced by the FBI.

Both India and Russia view Afghanistan as a security challenge. India believes that a turmoil in Afghanistan may pave way for Pakistan-based terror groups to emerge, and forRussia, a spillover of the crisis may have an impact on the former Soviet countries like Uzbekistan, Tajikistan.

Moreover, Modi and Putin are also expected to meet during the BRICS virtual summit on Thursday, hosted by New Delhi.

Apart from that, Putin is expected to visit India later this month for the much-awaited annual India-Russia bilateral summit and deliver the first units of the S-400 Air Defence system.