Indian envoys attend Afghan security conference

KABUL: Indian envoys to Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran have attended an international conference in the Afghan city of Herat that reviewed the security situation in the region following the drawdown of US-led NATO troops from the war-torn country.

The conference - Herat Security Dialogue III (HSD) - was hosted by the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies (AISS) from October 2-3 in Herat.

It was attended by Indian Ambassador to Pakistan T C A Raghavan, Ambassador to Afghanistan Amar Sinha and Ambassador to Iran Saurabh Kumar.

This was the third annual international conference AISS hosted. It was also attended by government officials, international organisation delegates, legislators, academic experts, journalists, business delegates, civil society representatives from Afghanistan and other nations.

The conference's main objective was to address a clear domestic and regional need for a permanent forum where different stakeholders could engage in dialogue aimed at building confidence and identifying practical and broader security cooperation at different levels.

The HSD aimed to challenge conventional approaches to security and encourage creative and "out of the box thinking" and solutions. It also encouraged normative and cross-cultural dialogue concerning different approaches and perspectives on security.

It intended to address Afghanistan's security and stability in the wider regional and global contexts.

About 140,000 American and NATO troops withdrew last December from Afghanistan after 13 years of fighting the Taliban.