New Delhi: Taliban military chief Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansoor, long sought by India for questioning on his alleged role in providing explosives and assault weapons to the hijackers of an Indian Airlines flight to Kandahar, has emerged as the leader of a secret diplomatic initiative to open talks between the Afghan government and the terrorist group, highly placed government sources in Kabul and New Delhi have told The Indian Express.
Hanif Atmar, Afghanistan’s National Security Advisor, met with Mansoor and the head of the Taliban’s interior affairs committee, during an unannounced visit to Doha, Qatar’s capital, early this month, the sources said.
The involvement of a Kandahar hijacking suspect in the Afghanistan peace talks is likely to underline New Delhi’s mounting concerns over what it sees as the pro-Pakistan tilt of President Ashraf Ghani’s new government. “We have not forgotten the culprits and accessories of IC-814,” a spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs said.
25/02/15 Praveen Swami/Indian Express
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Hanif Atmar, Afghanistan’s National Security Advisor, met with Mansoor and the head of the Taliban’s interior affairs committee, during an unannounced visit to Doha, Qatar’s capital, early this month, the sources said.
The involvement of a Kandahar hijacking suspect in the Afghanistan peace talks is likely to underline New Delhi’s mounting concerns over what it sees as the pro-Pakistan tilt of President Ashraf Ghani’s new government. “We have not forgotten the culprits and accessories of IC-814,” a spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs said.
25/02/15 Praveen Swami/Indian Express
