India, Russia hold talks on Afghanistan

New Delhi: NSA Ajit Doval on Wednesday held talks with his Russian counterpart Gen Nikolay Patrushev in mitigating any possible security threat from the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, a day after holding similar deliberations with CIA Chief William Burns.

Burns, Patrushev and the UK's Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) Richard Moore were among a number of key intelligence and security officials to visit India over the last few days, it is learnt.

The Doval-Patrushev talks delved into security implications of the Taliban's capture of power for India, Russia and the Central Asian region as a number of dreaded terror groups, including Jaish-e-Muhammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba having a strong presence in the war-torn country, people familiar with the meeting said. A Russian read-out of the delegation-level talks said attention was paid to intensifying joint work by "special services and military bodies" of both the countries and that emphasis was given on further interaction on the "anti-terrorist track", combating illegal migration and drug trafficking. It is learnt that Chief of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Burns, accompanied by a few officials, paid a quiet visit to India primarily to discuss ways to mitigate security threats that may emanate from Afghanistan. The CIA chief held talks with Doval and a number of senior officials of the National Security Secretariat on Tuesday.

When asked about the visit, the US embassy declined to comment. There was no comment from the Indian security establishment as well.

It is learnt that Moore also held extensive talks with Doval during his brief visit.

Asked about the MI6 chief's trip to India, a British High Commission spokesperson said: "We do not comment on intelligence matters." India has been in touch with all leading powers on the developments in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of troops by the US. Three weeks after taking control, the Taliban on Tuesday unveiled a "caretaker" government, saying it would be headed by Mohammad Hasan Akhund.

"As a follow-up to the telephone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 24, an exchange of views took place on the military, political and socio-economic situation in Afghanistan," the Russian read-out said.

It said the two sides agreed to coordinate on the Afghan issue in multilateral formats.

"They also touched upon humanitarian and migration problems in this country, as well as prospects for the Russian-Indian joint efforts aimed at creating conditions for launching a peaceful settlement process on the basis of an intra-Afghan dialogue," it said. "The importance of defining parameters of the future state structure of Afghanistan by the Afghans themselves, as well as the need to prevent the escalation of violence, social, ethnic and confessional contradictions in the country, were emphasised," it added.