Taliban open to addressing India's security concerns

New Delhi: Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla has said in a statement that the Taliban has indicated openness to addressing India's security concerns in the region.

The statement comes after Indian envoy to Qatar, Deepak Mittal, met Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, the head of the Taliban's political office in Doha, at the request of the group.

In the meeting, Mittal conveyed to Stanekzai that Afghanistan's soil should not be used for anti-Indian activities and terrorism.

It was the first publicly acknowledged formal diplomatic engagement that came two weeks after the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan.

"Obviously, like us, the US is also watching carefully, and we have to watch Pakistan's actions with a fine tooth comb," Shringla told a group of Indian reporters at the end of his three-day official visit to Washington DC.

"The US will have a wait-and-watch policy with regard to how the situation evolves in Afghanistan. India also has a similar policy. That doesn't mean you don't do anything.

It simply means that you have to... the situation is very fluid on the ground, you have to allow it to see how it evolves.

You have to see whether the assurances that have been made publicly are actually maintained on the ground, and how things work out," he said.