India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in the first reaction on the US-Taliban deal in Dohan on Saturday has compared it with yesteryear's blockbuster movie Pakeezah, saying while it was "not a surprise", the current situation in Afghanistan is being carefully watched.
Jaishankar said, "What we saw.. in a way it was not a surprise. Everybody knew, It is being talked about for so long. It was like finally seeing Pakeezah after 17 trailers."
Explaining the remark, he said, "issue for us is that for at the moment United States is talking in terms of thining down its presence and providing support to govt in Kabul. How that plays out, time will tell."
According to the details of the deal between US and Taliban, foreign forces will leave the country and the Taliban will be delisted from the United Nations Security Council's sanctions list.
The minister said that India's message to the "US & to the west" is that "achievements of the last 18 years is in global interest that those achievements are secured, protected & they are not jeopardized."
He said, while India will "wait and see how this plays out", real negotiations "will start now & then we will have to see many of the assumptions that we had, how cohesive are various players, what do they do & what are their demands. Does Taliban join a democratic setup or does a democratic setup adjusts to the Taliban."
India's official policy has been an "Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled" peace talks. New Delhi has emerged as a major partner of Kabul in last 18 year and helping develop infrastructure projects like the National Parliament in Kabul or the India Afghanistan friendship dam in Herat and many community and capacity building projects.
India's foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla was in Kabul on Friday and Saturday and called on President Dr. Ashraf Ghani, Chief Executive Dr. Abdullah Abdullah and former President Hamid Karzai, First Vice President-elect Amrullah Saleh, NSA Dr. Hamdullah Mohib, Acting Foreign Minister Mohammad Haroon Chakhansuri and Acting Finance Minister Abdul Zadran.