Harsh Shringla who is meeting top echelons of the Afghan government is also carrying a special message for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani from the PM. Shringla’s choice of Afghanistan as his maiden trip abroad as the Foreign Secretary displays commitment of the Indian government to landlocked country and the peace process, sources told ET

NEW DELHI: Harsh Shringla is on visit Afghanistan on Friday on his maiden trip abroad as Foreign Secretary to show support to democratic forces in Kabul on the eve of the peace deal between USA and Taliban.

Shringla who is meeting top echelons of the Afghan government is also carrying a special message for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani from the PM. Shringla’s choice of Afghanistan as his maiden trip abroad as the Foreign Secretary displays commitment of the Indian government to landlocked country and the peace process, sources told ET.

Shringla will also launch the process of next edition of high impact development projects across Afghan provinces, an exercise that has earned India goodwill.

Afghanistan will be followed by a trip to Dhaka next Monday to prepare for PM's trip to Bangladesh as the Chief Guest for 100th birth anniversary celebrations of Mujibur Rehman.

These visits to Dhaka will also be critical to smoothen rough edges in Bangladesh created by Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The PM visit on March 17 will also involve a bilateral component with forward looking deliverables.

Meanwhile India has received an invitation from Qatar to attend the historic signing of a peace deal between the United States and the Afghan Taliban on Saturday in Doha (Qatar). Indian ambassador to Qatar, P. Kumaran will represent India when the US signs a peace deal with the Taliban to end the 18-year war in Afghanistan, following a ‘partial truce’ with the terror group.

The US President had discussed the situation in Afghanistan with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during their summit here on Tuesday. Justifying the exercise to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan, Trump told reporters in Delhi that the US is “not a police force” and they (Afghans) “have to police it themselves”. He said the US wanted to “bring our young people back home”, claiming, the US “can win it (conflict in Afghanistan) easily” but that “I don’t want to kill millions of people”.

Trump and Modi “took note” of the developments including the issue of an US-Taliban agreement. India feels there should be “cessation of violence” and backs a peace-process that is Afghan-owned and Afghan-led.

India had conveyed to Trump that Pakistan should not be given a free hand. India had also conveyed to the US that the gains made in the past 19 years should not be allowed to be wasted.