India, Kyrgyzstan NSAs are on the same page on Afghanistan

India’s national security advisor Ajit Doval on Tuesday held a dialogue with his Kyrgyz counterpart Lieutenant General Marat Imankulov where they discussed the regional security environment with a special reference to Afghanistan. The secretary of the security council of the Kyrgyz Republic was in India for the first strategic dialogue between the National Security Council Secretariats of the two countries.

The two sides discussed the Afghanistan issue in the wake of the Taliban’s takeover, and the visitor was in consonance with the Indian perspective on stabilisation of the war-torn country through a government in Kabul that has enough representation of women and minorities like Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara communities. The two sides were on the same page on the Afghanistan issue and shared similar views.

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India and Kyrgyzstan also agreed upon steps to enhance bilateral security cooperation between the relevant bodies, including in the areas of counter-terrorism, combating radicalisation, narcotics control and defence cooperation, according to people familiar with the matter.

Kyrgyzstan is one of the founder members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), of which India is a permanent member along with Pakistan, China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, which makes the dialogue between the two countries significant.

The Taliban announced the interim government last month and expanded the cabinet a few weeks later, claiming that it was an inclusive set-up as per the wishes of the international community. A closer look, however, revealed that the government was anything but inclusive, with no women representation in the cabinet and symbolic representation from minority communities.