Simran Sodhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 10India will attend the next meet on Afghanistan to be held in Moscow in mid-February. Both Russia and India have confirmed the invitation and the subsequent acceptance to attend the Afghan conference.In December last year, Russia hosted China and Pakistan for a trilateral conference to discuss the future of Afghanistan. Both India and Afghanistan were not invited to the dialogue which was to discuss the future course of action for war-torn Afghanistan.This change in heart is welcome news to India which feared a growing Russia-Pakistan alliance to counter the growing India-Afghanistan relationship. The fact that Iran has also been invited this time is another welcome sign. India and Afghanistan, in the last year, have been very critical of Pakistan’s role in Afghanistan and have pointed to the role of the ISI and the Pakistan Army in fomenting trouble in the country.In December, the Afghans had been quick and blunt to dismiss that trilateral conference stating without the presence of Afghanistan, the future of the country could be decided. Ahmad Shekib Mostaghni, a spokesman for the Afghan Foreign Ministry, had said, “Even if such talks are organised with goodwill, it cannot yield any substantial result because no one from the Afghan side is there to brief the participants about the latest ground realities.”India conveyed its concerns directly to the Russians when National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval travelled to Moscow on January 30-31. The Russia-China-Pak trilateral meet also generated concerns in the strategic community that this was an anti-US alliance.