Indian delegation meets Taliban team in Moscow

A high-level Taliban delegation led by the Deputy Prime Minister of Afghanistan’s interim government Abdul Salam Hanafi on Wednesday met with an Indian delegation during which the Indian side expressed its readiness to provide extensive humanitarian assistance to the war-torn country which is now ruled by the insurgent group.

The Indian delegation led by J P Singh, the joint secretary of the Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran division of the Ministry of External Affairs, who were here to attend the Moscow Format meeting at the invitation of Russia, held talks with the Taliban leaders on the sidelines of the conference.

There was no official word from the Indian government on the meeting.

India had its first formal contact with the Taliban in Doha on August 31. However, the meeting on Wednesday was the first formal contact between the two sides after an interim Cabinet was announced by the Taliban last month.

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