New US special representative for Afghanistan meets NSA, foreign secretary

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The new US special representative for Afghanistan, Thomas West, met elderly Indian officers during his first visit to the country on Tuesday and bandied the indigenous security situation as well as ways to give philanthropic aid to the Afghan people.

West travelled to New Delhi after sharing in a meeting of the “ extended troika” in Islamabad on November 11 along with his counterparts from Pakistan, China and Russia, and holding addresses with Russia’s special representative for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, in Moscow on Monday.

West met National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval and foreign clerk Harsh Shringla for conversations that riveted on current developments in Afghanistan and indigenous security issues, people familiar with the matter said on condition of obscurity.

Among the matters that figured in the meetings were the indigenous security dialogue on Afghanistan hosted by India on November 10, the movement of people in and out of Afghanistan, the need to coordinate global sweats to give philanthropic backing to the Afghan people, and other bilateral and global issues of collective interest.

West briefed the Indian side on his conversations in Pakistan and Russia. Before travelling to the region, West held consultations with top British officers and representatives of the European Union and NATO in Brussels on developments and precedences in Afghanistan and the way forward in the war- torn country.

West was appointed to the post last month after the former special representative, Zalmay Khalilzad, stepped down following severe review of his running of accommodations with the Taliban and the chaotic fall of the Ashraf Ghani government in Kabul inmid-August.

Following his meeting with the Russian special representative on Monday, West twittered that he’d bandied “ participated interests in Afghanistan and (the) need for (the) Taliban to fulfil commitments to (the) transnational community”.

A statement issued after the “ extended troika” meeting on November 11 had expressed concern at the “ severe philanthropic and profitable situation” in Afghanistan and called on the Taliban to insure unchecked philanthropic access. The statement also called on the Taliban to “ cut ties with all transnational terrorist groups, strike and exclude them in a decisive manner, and to deny space to any terrorist organisation”.