India's foreign minister Jaishankar 'virtually' joins intra-Afghan ceremony held in Doha

India's external affairs minister S Jaishankar has joined intra-Afghan talks ceremony "virtually" which is taking place in Doha.

Also Read:India to be present at intra-Afghan talks ceremony in Doha

Joint Secretary, Pakistan Afghanistan & Iran (PAI) division in ministry of external affairs, JP Singh is present physically at the ceremony.

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India is present along with around 30 countries at the ceremony. All the countries that border Afghanistan have been invited which includes Iran, Pakistan and many central Asian countries.

The ceremony starts the process of negotiations between the Afghan government and Taliban. Official negotiations start on Monday.

Earlier this year, India was present at the signing of US Taliban deal which was signed on February 29 in Doha. The then Indian envoy in Doha P Kumaran represented India.

India is Afghanistan's major development partner and has built number infrastructure projects in the country like India Afghanistan friendship dam in the western province of Herat & the Afghan Parliament in capital Kabul.

Afghan govt is being represented by Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, Acting Afghan Foreign Minister Mohamamd Hanif Atmar, Afghan President’s Special Representative on Peace Affairs Abdul Salam Rahimi and State Minister for Peace Affairs Seyed Sa’adat Mansour Naderi. In his speech, Abdullah Abdullah called for a "humanitarian ceasefire".

Taliban is being represented by Abdul Ghani Baradar.

US Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo is in Qatar to attend the opening ceremony of Afghanistan peace negotiations. The Afghan government negotiating delegation reached for Doha on Friday to start peace negotiations with the Taliban group.