New Delhi: A day after the US intelligence chief was in Delhi, India told Russia that Pakistan had to bear “special responsibility” to ensure that terror groups do not operate in Afghanistan due to Islamabad’s close links with the Taliban.Indian officials have had a series of meetings with high-level foreign security heads who have been visiting New Delhi as part of consultations over the situation in Afghanistan.According to The Hindustan Times, the first to drop in during the past week was the head of UK foreign intelligence agency, MI6, Richard Moore. This was followed by Central Intelligence Agency chief William Burns holding meetings with officials of the National Security Council at Council Secretariat on Tuesday.While both visits of the spy chiefs were unannounced, India had announced the impending trip of Russia’s Secretary of the Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev.All these meetings were naturally dominated by Afghanistan, where the Islamist Taliban have usurped power after a gap of 20 years following a military campaign. The Taliban had signed an agreement with the United States in February 2020 to start intra-Afghan talks for a political settlement.One and a half year later, the Taliban captured Kabul and announced an interim government that consisted of only their senior leaders. The Afghan president Ashraf Ghani had fled before the Taliban entered Kabul, civilian politicians also escaped abroad, while the rest have not found any place in the new government.While the two countries had worked together during the Taliban regime in the 1990s, Indian and Russian positions on Afghanistan have diverged over the years. Russia had maintained close contacts with the Taliban over the years and has kept its embassy open following the fall of Kabul to the Islamist group.India had never made formal contacts with the Taliban and had only publicly acknowledged a meeting last week for the first time.Patrushev held delegation-level talks with India’s national security advisor Ajit Doval and met separately with external affairs minister, S. Jaishankar. He also called on the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Secretary of the #Russia‘n Security Council Nikolai Patrushev & #India‘s NSA Ajit Doval discussed deepening bilateral cooperation in the field of security at the consultations held in #NewDelhi today ➡️ https://t.co/4YxqOiYYSQ pic.twitter.com/95oBrkpXBK— Russia in India 🇷🇺 (@RusEmbIndia) September 8, 2021The Russian president Vladimir Putin had earlier spoken with Modi about Afghanistan on August 24.Russia issued a press statement after the NSA-level meeting. There was no official read-out from the Indian side.According to sources quoted by news agency ANI, this was the first “detailed review” with Russia on Afghanistan that involved officials from security agencies, external affairs ministry and defence ministry after the re-conquest of Kabul by Taliban. Glad to meet Secretary of Security Council of Russia, Nikolai Patrushev.Very useful discussions on Afghanistan. pic.twitter.com/1Q9RfX8kkO— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) September 8, 2021India, as per ANI, conveyed to the Russian side that Pakistan, with its links to the Taliban and other terror groups, had a “special responsibility” to ensure that Afghan soil is not used to spread terrorism.Besides, Indian officials reportedly “highlighted links of Pakistan’s ISI with terror groups in Afghanistan such as LeT and JeM”.The head of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, Faiz Hameed, had visited Kabul earlier this week, where he met with Taliban leaders as they discussed the formation of the government.Was happy to meet Mr. Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of the Security Council of Russia. His visit allowed useful discussions between both sides on important regional developments. pic.twitter.com/v0cwJH1yAF— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 8, 2021ANI, citing sources, noted that there were five areas of convergence. They agreed over the need for the Taliban to adhere to its commitment, threats over the presence of international terror groups, fears from Islamic radicalisation and extremism, the flow of weapons and smuggling across the Afghan border and the high possibility of the rising opium trade.There was no mention of Pakistan in these five areas where both sides were on the same page.Moscow has worked closely with Islamabad on its Afghan policy, especially to foster links with the Taliban. Russia had vigorously championed the Moscow process and the Troika plus platforms which includes Pakistan – and advocated direct talks with the Taliban.For Russia, its core concern has been to stem the spread of Daesh or the Islamic State from Afghanistan into Central Asia and beyond. However, there is a fundamental difference between India and Russia over the nature of the Islamic State and its backers.The press statement issued by the Russian embassy said that two sides underlined the “importance of defining parameters of the future state structure of Afghanistan by the Afghans themselves, as well as the need to prevent the escalation of violence, social, ethnic and confessional contradictions in the country”.They also apparently discussed the “prospects for the Russian-Indian joint efforts aimed at creating conditions for launching a peaceful settlement process on the basis of an intra-Afghan dialogue”.