India to participate in Moscow talks with Taliban at 'non-official level'

India on Thursday said it will participate in the meeting being hosted by Russia on Afghanistan at a "non-official level" in Moscow where representatives of the Taliban will be present.

The Moscow-format meeting on Afghanistan will be held on November 9 and representatives of the Afghan Taliban radical movement will take part in it, the Russian Foreign Ministry had said last week.

In response to queries regarding India's participation in the meeting, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, "We are aware that the Russian Federation is hosting a meeting in Moscow on 9 November on Afghanistan."
The first such meeting, proposed for September 4 of this year, was called off at the last moment after the Afghan government pulled out, describing its involvement in the Moscow meeting as "unnecessary" as the Taliban had "disrespected internationally-sanctioned principles and rejected the message of peace and direct negotiations."