US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman would fly from India to Kabul on Saturday for talks with President Hamid Karzai and other top officials, the State Department announced.
Grossman would be in Abu Dhabi until Thursday evening and would stay in New Delhi through Friday, the State Department spokesperson, Victoria Nuland, told reporters at her daily news conference.
"All of these meetings are focused on the support these countries give to Afghanistan and talking through the process of Afghan-led reconciliation and how we can all support the aspirations of Afghanistan," she said.
The US official noted that New Delhi was added to Grossman's itinerary only at the last minute and was not in his initial schedule. Grossman's India trip comes within days of Pakistan saying "no" to him travelling to Islamabad.
"In no way," she said when asked if there is a message to Pakistan because they rejected him. "We made clear that we would welcome a stop by Ambassador Grossman in Islamabad on this trip. You know that the Pakistanis are looking hard internally at our relationship. They asked us to give them time to do that, so he will not be going there on this trip," she said.
The United States believes that India has a role to play in supporting a democratic, prosperous future for Afghanistan, she said.
"These are all part and parcel of the same "fight, talk, build" strategy. India does, as you know, support police training and other things in Afghanistan. So it's important that we keep those lines of communication open," she concluded.