Prime minister Narendra Modi will be addressing the UN general debate of the UN General Assembly on September 25. He will also hold a bilateral meeting with US President Joe Biden during his visit to Washington on September 24-25. the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday.
“PM will participate in the first in-person Quad leaders’ summit in Washington on September 24. On September 25, he will address the UN general debate of the UN General Assembly at its 76th session. While PM is in Washington, he will also have a bilateral meeting with President Biden,” MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.
In his visit, PM will be joining Australian PM Scott Morrison and Japanese PM Yoshihide Suga at the White House. The previous Quad summit had taken place virtually on March 12, during the beginning of the second COVID-19 wave in the country.
The forthcoming visit is important as it comes against the backdrop of the political turmoil in Afghanistan. The swift takeover of the country by the Taliban has stunned the entire world. And even as world powers remain divided over recognising the Taliban government in Afghanistan, China has signalled that it is willing to engage with the Taliban government.
As reported earlier, the US government is under pressure from the Opposition to ‘not recognise’ the Taliban government in Afghanistan, even as India has maintained a diplomatic silence on the matter. The Quad summit is being viewed as Biden’s effort to stir away from the criticism received over a visibly hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan and underline that the US still remains a significant player in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) despite the rising Chinese influence.
MEA on Operation Devi Shakti
Bagchi said that the evacuation of people from Afghanistan is dependent on the resumption of flights from Kabul Airport. “Until and unless ops resume at Kabul airport, it’ll be difficult to say how will people be evacuated. It’ll be easier once the operations resume. We are watching this, so that the remaining Indians and Afghans willing to come (can be brought here),” Bagchi said.
