By IANS,
New Delhi: Ahead of the Bonn conference, British AfPak envoy Mark Sedwill will be holding talks with senior Indian officials later this week against the backdrop of Islamabad boycotting the key global conclave on the future Afghanistan.
Sedwill, who touches down here Thursday, will meet Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai and India’s special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan S.K. Lambah. He is also likely to meet National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon.
The visit is aimed at exchange of views between India and Britain on the upcoming conference in Bonn Dec 5 that seeks to chart out Afghanistan’s future beyond 2014, when NATO-led international troops are expected to leave the country.
Britain sees India as an important player in Afghanistan and has lauded New Delhi’s reconstruction in that country.
Indian officials are expected to update the British envoy on key features of the strategic partnership pact India and Afghanistan signed during Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s visit to New Delhi last month.
The Afghan situation has become more complicated ahead of the Bonn conference. Pakistan Tuesday announced that it will not attend the conference to protest against the NATO air attack that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
Over 90 delegations from around the world are expected to gather in Bonn for the key meet that is expected to discuss a cluster of issues, including the transition and stalled reconciliation efforts with the Taliban.
In a boost to India, an Indian consortium of seven companies led by Steel Authority of India has won the right to develop three iron ore blocks in the Hajigak deposits in central Afghanistan.