New Delhi

On the day the Taliban announced that the Bamyan Buddha iconoclast Mullah Mohammad Hassan  Akhund as Afghanistan’s new President  and the globally-designated terrorist Jalajudin Haqqani as its interior minister, the chief of the  Central Investigation Agency (CIA) Wlliam Burns was in Delhi discussing the situation obtaining in that country and its impact on the global terrorism.

In what is seen as the emerging common interest between India, the USA and Russia about the impact of the new government formation and related development in Afghanistan, Burns led a delegation of top security experts and held discussion with National Security advisor Ajit Doval.

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The visit was kept a secret with both Delhi and Washington not confirming it.

In the meanwhile, the Ministry of external Affairs announced that the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, General Nikolay Patrushev, had arrived in Delhi on a two-day visit for a high-level India-Russia inter-governmental consultation on the invitation of  Ajit Doval.

While Burns is scheduled to fly to Pakistan where he is expected to meet the Pakistani authorities for discussion on similar lines, the Russian head of security will meet  prime Minister narendra Modi and External affairs minister Dr S Jaishankar on Wednesday.

Doval is believed to have held discussion with both the Russian and CIA leaders separately.

Doval-Patrushev consultation is a follow-up to the telephonic conversation between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 24, when the two leaders said the two strategic partners will work together and directed the senior officials of their respective countries to remain in touch on the developments in Afghanistan.

Patrushev is also expected to call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar today..

The idea of a structured cooperation at the level of After the Modi-Putin conversation, Russia had said that the two leaders expressed the intention to enhance cooperation to counter the spread of terrorist ideology and drug threat emerging from Afghanistan.

Both leaders also agreed to set up a permanent bilateral channel for consultations on the issue.

On Monday, Russian envoy Nikolay Kudashev also reiterated that there is ample scope for cooperation between India and Russia on Afghanistan and both sides have been in regular touch with each other on the latest developments in the war-torn country.

He also said that Russia is equally concerned like India that the Afghan soil should not be a source of spreading terrorism to other countries and there is an apprehension that the terror threat may reach the Russian territory as well as Kashmir.

Earlier on August 26, the Afghan situation was discussed in detail when Deputy NSA Pankaj Saran visited Moscow to meet Russian NSA Nikolay Patrushev and Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov.

Following this, the two countries had agreed to step up coordination amid the unfolding situation in Afghanistan following troops pullout by the US and NATO.

Russia was a key player in pushing for the Afghan peace process before the Taliban captured power in Kabul on August 15.