Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval reached Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lok Kalyan Marg residence today afternoon to discuss the ongoing situation in Afghanistan, reported NDTV.
The meeting comes nearly a week after the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced that its Ambassador to Qatar, Deepak Mittal, met with the head of the Taliban’s political office in Doha, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai. According to the ministry, the meeting had taken place at the Indian Embassy at the request of the Taliban side.
"Discussions focused on safety, security and early return of Indian nationals stranded in Afghanistan. The travel of Afghan nationals, especially minorities, who wish to visit to India also came up," the ministry said in a statement.
"Ambassador Mittal raised India’s concern that Afghanistan’s soil should not be used for anti-Indian activities and terrorism in any manner. The Taliban Representative assured the Ambassador that these issues would be positively addressed," the statement further read.
PM Modi's meeting with Shah, Singh and Doval, meanwhile, comes on the heels of the Taliban's claims of taking control over the last holdout--Panjshir province.
However, the resistance forces led by former vice president Amrullah Saleh and Ahmad Massoud have refuted the Taliban's claim. "Taliban's claim of occupying Panjshir is false. The NRF forces are present in all the strategic positions across the valley to continue the fight. We assure the people of Afghanistan that the struggle against the Taliban and their partners will continue until justice and freedom prevails," the National Resistance Front (NRF) said in a tweet.