Sringla met with US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman to discuss issues, including Afghanistan.

Washington. Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Sringla met with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on Thursday and discussed bilateral relations and the situation in Afghanistan. Sringla also met with Deputy Secretary of State Wendy R. Sherman, who arrived in Washington on Wednesday to meet with senior officials in U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted, “Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Sringla has met with US Secretary of State Blinken. Bilateral relations and the situation in Afghanistan were discussed. During the meeting with Sherman, the Foreign Secretary held important discussions on advancing the Indo-US strategic partnership in other areas, including healthcare, defense and security, trade and investment, science and technology, climate change and clean energy.

Bagchi said, “He has reviewed the situation of the Kovid-1 epidemic epidemic in Afghanistan, in addition to the Indo-Pacific region. UN cooperation and other regional and multilateral issues of mutual interest were also discussed.

Sringla is one of the elected foreign officials
Sringla was among a handful of foreign officials who came to meet with top officials of the Biden administration after the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. Asked about the meeting with the visiting Indian diplomat, Foreign Office spokesman Ned Price told reporters, “We will keep you updated on scheduled meetings from time to time.”

Sringla came to Washington from New York, where he chaired an important meeting of the UN Security Council on Afghanistan. India was the chairman of the 15-member powerful branch of the UN for August. No other immediate information about their meeting in the US capital was immediately available. However, the issue of Afghanistan and the upcoming quarterly summit could be at the top of the discussions between Indian and US officials.

The four countries in the quad are Australia, India, Japan and the United States. President Joe Biden has made the quad a top priority and announced a direct quad summit this year.