US secretary of state Antony Blinken discussed Afghanistan in a phone call with Indian external affairs minister S Jaishankar as the top American diplomat called counterparts of allied and partner countries including the G7 and Nato.
State department spokesperson Ned Price said that the two officials discussed the Afghanistan situation and “agreed to continue coordination”.
No other details were made available by the US side.
US President Joe Biden has also been in touch with his counterparts. He spoke to French President Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Angela Merkel on Thursday and UK’s Boris Johnson earlier. Biden is expected to do a videoconference with G7 leaders next week.
Minister Jaishankar told reporters after chairing a meeting of the UN Security Council on Thursday that the safe and secure return of Indian citizens from Afghanistan was discussed in a call with Blinken on Monday. The Thursday call was their second in a week.
Jaishankar reiterated the continued focus on the repatriation of Indian citizens from Afghanistan in remarks to reporters after chairing another meeting of the UNSC on Thursday. “We are working with international partners. In this regard, especially, principally the United States because they control the airport,” the minister said.
US forces have secured the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul to ensure the safe evacuation of Americans, people of allied countries and partners and Afghans who had worked with Americans forces and diplomats and who now fear retaliatory action from the Taliban.
{{/usCountry}}US forces have secured the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul to ensure the safe evacuation of Americans, people of allied countries and partners and Afghans who had worked with Americans forces and diplomats and who now fear retaliatory action from the Taliban.
{{/usCountry}}Blinken also spoke on Thursday with counterparts of the G7 countries - the UK, France, Germany, Japan, Canada and Italy - and the EU in a videoconference and separately with the Nato secretary general, foreign minister of Spain and the prime minister of Albania, which has offered to take in some of Afghans being evacuated.
“All leaders underscored the imperative of safe passage for those who wish to leave Afghanistan and the need for an inclusive political resolution that protects the fundamental human rights of all Afghans,” the state department said in a readout of Blinken’s videoconference with G7 and EU leaders.
“The leaders agreed that the international community’s relationship with the Taliban will depend on their actions, not their words,” it added.
Blinken has said the US is prepared to engage with the Taliban if they showed respect for basic rights of Afghan people, and specially women and children, and did not harbour terrorists that target America.
The US side is actually in daily communication with the Taliban already, over the ongoing evacuation of people through the Kabul airport. Military commanders on both sides are said to be speaking several times a day.