India is set to participate in a meeting of key countries being hosted by Qatar on Thursday to discuss the situation in Afghanistan against the backdrop of the Taliban’s massive offensive that has already resulted in the fall of nine provincial capitals.
People familiar with developments said on condition of anonymity that India will be represented at the meeting in Doha that will also be joined by nations such as Indonesia and Turkey, which is set to take over the security of Bagram airbase.
There was no official word on the matter from the external affairs ministry and the people cited above were tight-lipped about the level of India’s participation. The invitation to join the meeting was extended by Mutlaq bin Majed Al-Qahtani, Qatar’s special envoy for counter-terrorism and conflict resolution, when he visited New Delhi last week.
Qatar on Wednesday hosted a meeting of the “extended troika” that was convened by Russia and was joined by the US special envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, and his counterparts from Russia, China and Pakistan.