Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud will visit India on September 18 - 20 to discuss the unfolding situation in Afghanistan even as Qatar has taken lead in diplomatically engaging Kabul and towards legitimising the Taliban, Ministry of External Affairs said on Saturday.
Faisal Al Saud will meet the Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar on September 19 and will call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 20.
India’s close allies in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are worried about the security ramifications of the medieval theocratic Afghanistan state and the ties of the global jihadist network with the Taliban regime.
The two countries are also perturbed with the active role played by Qatar, Turkey and Pakistan in engaging the Sunni Islamist regime with Islamabad sending its first commercial flight to Kabul. Qatar is handling the technical side of the Kabul airport operations, while the Taliban is still considering handing over perimeter security to the Turkish military.
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