11 countries will participate in this round of "Moscow format" talks to be hosted by Russia. Russia had also sent an invitation to India to participate in it, which India has accepted.
Russia has said that at this meeting the international community will try to convince a Taliban delegation that it should form a more inclusive government in Afghanistan.
The Moscow format was introduced in 2017 and then included only six countries – Russia, Afghanistan, India, Iran, China, and Pakistan. In 2018, Russia had also invited the Taliban to talks in this format and even then India participated in that talks at an "informal level".
India has so far not given any indication of any cooperation with the Taliban. India had also evacuated its embassies and consulates in Afghanistan and the employees were brought back to India.
On August 31, India's ambassador to Qatar, Deepak Mittal, held talks with Taliban representatives in the capital, Doha, before the Taliban formed the government in Afghanistan. But after that, when the Taliban government was formed, India had expressed its disapproval about it.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had clearly said that the government formed by the Taliban is not inclusive. The meeting in Moscow will be the first meeting between India and the Taliban since the formation of the Taliban government.
This week, an extraordinary meeting of the G20 countries on Afghanistan was also held in which Modi said that Afghanistan needed an "inclusive government" and "non-interrupted philanthropic support".
He also said that there is a need to ensure that "the land of Afghanistan does not become a source of radicalization and terrorism". Russia is playing a very active role in the future of Afghanistan.
It has not yet recognized the Taliban government but has kept its embassy in Afghanistan open. It has also created a separate mechanism for discussions on Afghanistan with the US, China, and Pakistan and has not included India in it.
