A day after India’s ambassador to Qatar, Deepak Mittal, met top Taliban leader Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, who is also the head of Taliban’s Political Office in Doha, former Chief Minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah asked, “If they’re a terror group why are you talking to them?”

Responding  Omar ducked a question on Al-Qaeda threat saying, “Either Taliban is a terror organization or not, please clarify to us how you see them. If they’re a terror group why are you talking to them? If not then will you (Centre) move to United Nations & have it delisted as a terror organisation? Make up your mind.”

Omar’s statement comes after the Ambassador of India to Qatar met Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai at the request of the Taliban side.

The discussions focused on safety, security and early return of Indian nationals stranded in Afghanistan.

During the interaction, the travel of Afghan nationals, especially minorities, who wish to visit India, also came up.

Ambassador Mittal raised India’s concern that Afghanistan’s soil should not be used for anti-Indian activities and terrorism in any manner and the Taliban Representative assured that these issues would be positively addressed.

India is concerned about the presence of the Haqqani Network, which has deep linkages with Pakistan spy agency ISI and India-centric terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed in Afghanistan.

New Delhi thinks that the Haqqani Network may use its proximity to the Taliban government to target India.

India has so far applied that “wait and watch” approach with the arrival of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

During his 45-minute-long speech on Friday, Stanikzai had called for good ties with India.

Calling India “a very important country” in the region, he said that the Taliban wants to keep good business and diplomatic relations with its neighbours.