US NSA McMaster to meet his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval; Kulbhushan Jadhav, Afghanistan operations high on agenda

United States National Security Advisor HR McMaster will hold talks with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval on Tuesday in Delhi. India-Pakistan impasse on death sentence to Kulbhushan Jadhav and operations in Afghanistan are likely to be high on agenda. 

In first such visit by senior official of Trump Administration, McMaster is expected to extend a formal invitation for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Washington in the next few months. His meeting with Doval is also expected to set the course of bilateral relations between India and United States. 

McMaster, who arrived in Delhi on Monday, is also expected to meet External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

According to an official release, the US NSA will discuss the future of security operations in Afghanistan, India’s role in Afghanistan as well as the India-Pakistan impasse, and will meet his Indian counterpart, Ajit Doval, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and PM Modi. 

The senior US official will also hold discussions on India’s concerns with cross-border terrorism from Pakistan, and tensions that have increased recently over the sentencing to death of Kulbhushan Jadhav in Pakistan, accused of spying for India.

McMaster arrived in Delhi from Kabul and Islamabad as part of his 'regional consultations'. 

In Kabul, McMaster said he would impress on Pakistan that it was important to give up support to the Haqqani group and the Taliban. “The best way to pursue their interests in Afghanistan and elsewhere is through the use of diplomacy, and not through the use of proxies that engage in violence,” he told a local news channel.

In Pakistan, McMaster had “expressed appreciation for Pakistan’s democratic and economic development, and stressed the need to confront terrorism in all its forms,” during his discussions with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and senior advisers.

Sharif’s office said they had also discussed India-Pakistan ties. Pakistan has praised the US administration’s recent remarks on mediating between New Delhi and Islamabad, something India has been opposed to.