India cautioned the US against including “terrorists and extremists” in the Afghan reconciliation efforts saying there is no evidence yet that they have broken links with al-Qaeda.
“Internationally accepted red lines must be respected in whatever reconciliation models are being considered,” foreign secretary Rajan Mathai said at a DC think tank.
Mathai is likely to deliver this message later in the day in the first meeting yet between Indian officials and US secretary of state John Kerry since he took over from Hillary Clinton.
This is not a new Indian line, said officials, but one that is being re-stated, with more clarity than before, to the new state department leadership and the administration.
The US is encouraging Afghan-led reconciliation efforts including engaging the Taliban, before it ends military action in 2014, pulling out most of its troops.