Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai Warns India On Possible US-Pakistan Deal On Afghanistan

Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai has warned India that the it should be wary of a possible Pakistan-United States deal on Afghanistan, reports The Hindu.

The warning from Karzai comes at a time when the US Special Envoy to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad is pushing through a peace pact with the Taliban.

Karzai, who was on a visit to Delhi, conveyed his 'fears for Afghanistan' if there was a deal that involved Pakistan to the Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi and the External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

“We Afghans have suffered massively the consequences of American-Pakistani deals. Now too, this is very likely, and this is our fear and concern,” Karzai was quoted in the report as saying.

"We have been clear with Ambassador Khalilzad that we will fully back negotiations for peace in Afghanistan, but we draw a clear distinction between peace in Afghanistan and US-Pakistani deals in Afghanistan,” he said.

The former Afghan president added that India, which had suffered similar consequences, “should be extremely worried”.

Meanwhile, Khalilzad is set to hold another round of talks with the Taliban in Doha in Qatar to push forward a deal as the US President Donald Trump has been pressing for an early exit from Afghanistan which could favour his prospects for the upcoming Presidential elections in 2020.