Indias Ambassador to Qatar to attend the signing of the peace deal between the US and Taliban

India's Ambassador to Qatar P. Kumaran is to attend the signing of the peace deal between the US and the Afghan Taliban in Doha on 29 February. 

Peace deal:

♦ The Peace deal will allow for the withdrawal of the US forces from Afghanistan. 

♦ There are more than 12,000 US troops in Afghanistan. A report stated that 2,448 Americans have died in combat there since the invasion in October 2001. 

♦ India has been invited by the Qatar government for the singing ceremony India has been a key stakeholder in the peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan. 

♦ This will be the first time India will officially attend an event involving the Taliban. 

♦ Countries including the US, Russia, and Iran have been reaching out to the Taliban as part of efforts to push the stalled Afghan peace process.

♦ In November 2018, India had sent two former diplomats in non-official capacity to a conference on the Afghan peace process in Moscow, Russia. The peace deal conference was organized by Russia. It was attended by a high-level Taliban delegation, representatives of Afghanistan and from several other countries, including the US, Pakistan, and China.