Senior Afghan leader Ata Mohammad Noor meets external affairs minister Jaishankar

Noor is the third leader from the erstwhile Northern Alliance, which was backed by India in its campaign against the Taliban, to visit New Delhi in recent weeks. He was preceded by Marshal Abdul Rashid Dostum in September and Abdullah Abdullah earlier this month.

Senior Afghan leader Ata Mohammad Noor met external affairs minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday as part of New Delhi’s outreach to a wider spectrum of the leadership in Kabul amid the ongoing dialogue between the Taliban and the Afghan government.

There was no official word from the external affairs ministry on the meeting between S Jaishankar and Noor, and people familiar with developments said that the two leaders discussed the Afghan peace process. (AFGHAN EMBASSY.)

Noor is the third leader from the erstwhile Northern Alliance, which was backed by India in its campaign against the Taliban, to visit New Delhi in recent weeks. He was preceded by Marshal Abdul Rashid Dostum in September and Abdullah Abdullah, chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation, earlier this month.

There was no official word from the external affairs ministry on the meeting between Jaishankar and Noor, and people familiar with developments said on condition of anonymity that the two leaders discussed the Afghan peace process and the troubled talks currently underway between the Taliban and the Afghan government in Doha.

The Indian government decided late last year to expand its contacts with different ethnic groups and political parties in Afghanistan, though it is yet to decide on the crucial issue of whether it should open a channel of communication with the Taliban. In an interview with Hindustan Times, Abdullah had said the Afghan leadership would have no concerns if India decides to engage the Taliban.

In Indian circles, Noor, the chief executive of the Jamiat party, is best known for the personal role he played in countering a terror attack on the Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif in January 2016, when he was the governor of Balkh province. “He personally took up arms to defend the Indian consulate when it was under attack,” an Afghan diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

Noor’s visit to New Delhi coincided with a trip to Islamabad by Hizb-i-Islami leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a known India-baiter who has opposed any role of the country in Afghanistan. Hekmatyar, also known as the “butcher of Kabul” for his alleged links to civilian deaths in the 1990s, met foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Monday to discuss the peace process.