Peace negotiator of Afghanistan Abdullah Abdullah to visit India today

NEW DELHI: Abdullah Abdullah, one of the chief negotiators with the Taliban in the intra-Afghan peace dialogue, will visit India on Tuesday in a bid to strengthen consensus and garner support for the Afghan peace process.

Sources said that Abdullah will try and persuade the Indian side to talk to the Taliban as well. India, as a matter of policy, does not sit down to negotiate with individuals or bodies which are designated as terrorists.

"The aim of the trip is to attract support for the Afghan peace and strengthen regional consensus. Abdullah will meet with Indian officials on Afghan peace and bilateral relations between Afghanistan and India," Abdullah's spokesman Fraidoon Khwazoon said.

Abdullah, who is the chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation in Afghanistan, last week visited Pakistan where he discussed the peace process with Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

The visit also is close on the heels of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's virtual participation in the opening ceremony of the peace process in Doha where he said that the process should be Afghan-led.

"Afghan soil should never be used for carrying out anti-India activities. India supports the need for an immediate ceasefire in order to establish long-lasting peace in Afghanistan," the external affairs minister had said.

Earlier last month, US Special Representative for Afghan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad had also visited New Delhi where he held a meeting with Jaishankar, foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla and National Security Adviser AJit Doval.