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‘False, mischievous': India on reports claiming Jaishankar met Taliban leaders
"We categorically deny reports based on tweets by some journalists that EAM has met any Taliban leader," Bagchi also said.
The Indian government on Friday denied the claims that suggested Union external affairs minister S Jaishankar met Taliban leaders during his stopover in Doha. In a weekly briefing, external affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said such reports are "false and mischievous."
"We categorically deny reports based on tweets by some journalists that EAM has met any Taliban leader," Bagchi also said.
Earlier this month, the foreign minister travelled to Kenya. During the trip, Jaishankar made a surprise stopover in Doha, where he met some officials, including the Qatari National Security Adviser.
The meeting was held in the backdrop of the US pulling out its troops from Afghanistan amid the peace deal between the south Asian country's government and the Taliban insurgents.
There was no prior announcement about the foreign minister’s transit halt in Qatar, which has played a crucial role in US-Taliban negotiations in recent years, and no official word from both countries on the meeting between Jaishankar and Qatari NSA Mohamed Bin Ahmed Al Mesned.
Following the meeting, many speculated that Jaishankar also met Taliban leaders who assured the foreign minister that the outfit's future relations with India will not be based on Pakistan's wishes. The speculations were further fuelled after senior Qatari officials held separate meetings with Zalmay Khalilzad, the US special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation, and a team of Taliban negotiators.
In the UNSC Debate on the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan last week, Jaishankar had called for a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire to ensure reduction in violence in Afghanistan and said that terrorist safe havens and sanctuaries must be dismantled immediately for enduring peace in the war-torn country.
Jaishankar had also said there needs to be zero tolerance for terrorism in all its forms and manifestations including cross-border terror acts.
He had said it is equally important to ensure that the territory of Afghanistan is not used by terrorist groups to threaten or attack any other country and those providing material and financial support to terrorist entities must be held accountable.
