India should encourage Taliban to shun violence and become mainstream in Afghanistan: Shivshankar Menon

India has been a key stakeholder in the peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan and has committed aid worth USD 3 billion to the war-ravaged country.

India should encourage Taliban to shun violence and become mainstream in Afghanistan: Menon — The top diplomat, who served as India’s ambassador to China, Foreign Secretary and the National Security Advisor, said the threat of extremism emanating from Afghanistan was exaggerated in India. (Express file photo)

India should be clear about its role in Afghanistan and do whatever it can to encourage that the Taliban shun violent extremism and become mainstream, former National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon has said.

India has been a key stakeholder in the peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan and has committed aid worth USD 3 billion to the war-ravaged country.

New Delhi sent two former diplomats in “non-official” capacity to a conference on the Afghan peace process in Moscow in November which was attended by a high-level Taliban delegation.

The conference organised by Russia was attended by representatives of Afghanistan as well as from several other countries, including the US, Pakistan and China.

India has been maintaining a policy of not engaging with the Taliban and pressing for an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led peace initiative to bring peace and stability in the war-torn country.

“India should do whatever it can to encourage that the Taliban become mainstream, that they give up extremist ideas and stop treating women the way they do, but how it is done and how it will shape up, that is not for us to say. We should be clear in what our role is. About talking to the Taliban or to anyone, it is the job of intelligence agencies,” Menon said at the Jaipur Literature Festival.