ISLAMABAD – Pakistan says it is yet to decide about an invitation from India to attend a conference of the regional countries’ national security advisers called by Indian NSA Ajid Doval on Afghanistan on 10th and 11th November 2021 in New Delhi.
“We have not taken any decision yet on the Indian invitation, however, the decision whether to attend the conference or otherwise would be taken soon”, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told The Nation when asked for his comments.
Pakistan’s National Security Adviser Dr Moeed Yousaf has been invited to the conference, Foreign Office sources have confirmed.
India is organising the conference of the NSAs of regional countries on Afghanistan which may hit snags as many countries invited at the moot have not responded yet to the Indian government.
India attended the Russian conference on Afghanistan on 19th and 20th October in Moscow, however, there was no meeting between Pakistan and Indian representatives on the sidelines of the meeting.
Iran which is hosting another regional foreign ministers conference on Afghanistan on 27th October has kept India out of it.
Sources in Islamabad have confirmed that civil and military leadership would take a unanimous decision on the Indian invitation, hopefully next week.
The sources in Foreign Office told The Nation India which since the fall of Kabul on 15th August 2021 has been ousted from Afghanistan affairs is again seeking its role in the future of Afghanistan with the help of Western countries, however, Pakistan has made it clear to Western powers during diplomatic interaction in the recent past that any strategic role to India in Afghanistan would not be acceptable to it.