(a) whether Russia and India have constituted any joint task force on Afghanistan;
(b) if so, the details thereof; and
(c) the objectives and characteristics of the said task force?
(a) whether Russia and India have constituted any joint task force on Afghanistan;
(b) if so, the details thereof; and
(c) the objectives and characteristics of the said task force?
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR EXTERNAL AFFAIRS ( SHRI AJIT KUMAR PANJA )
(a) to (c) India and Russia had decided to set up a Joint Working Group on Afghanistan during the visit of His Excellency Mr. Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation to India on October 2-5, 2000. The first meeting of the Indo-Russian Joint Working Group on Afghanistan was held in New Delhi on November 20-21, 2000 in which both sides reviewed the situation prevailing in Afghanistan in all its dimensions and agreed to continue their cooperation at the bilateral level as well as multilaterally in this respect.