By IANS,
New Delhi : Against the backdrop of intensifying violence in Afghanistan, India will hold talks with Burhanuddin Rabbani, head of the Afghan government’s peace council negotiating with the Taliban, Thursday to discuss the contours of the peace process following the US announcement of a phased withdrawal of troops from that country.
Rabbani, who will come here with a 15-member delegation, will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and update him about the Afghan government’s efforts to accommodate a section of the so-called moderate Taliban.
India has made it clear many a time that it is ready to accept a peace deal in which only those Taliban who are ready to sever links with the Taliban-Al Qaeda, to renounce violence and accept the Afghan constitution are sought to be accommodated in a future dispensation.
Rabbani will also hold delegation-level talks with External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna. Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and senior officials will be also be participating in the talks, informed sources said.
India is expected to convey its views on a reasonable peace deal in Afghanistan and its growing stakes in peace and stability of a country for whose reconstruction it has pledged $2 billion.
Rabbani, a former Afghan president, will be coming to India on a two-day visit Thursday amid escalating violence in Afghanistan. The Afghan president’s half-brother Ahmad Wali Karzai, a powerful figure in southern Afghanistan, was shot dead in Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban, Tuesday. He played a critical role in stemming the influence of the Taliban in their southern stronghold.