India has lodged a protest with Turkey for not being invited to a conference of Afghanistan's immediate neighbours held in Istanbul this week and that country was "apologetic" over the action.
"It was unfortunate that India was not invited to the conference. We have taken up the matter with the Turkish government....They were very apologetic," highly-placed sources said here today.
Asked about the reason for such an action, they said it seems Turkey was deferential to Pakistan's wishes.
According to reports, India's absence at the conference of Afghanistan and its six immediate neighbours, held on Tuesday, stemmed from Pakistan's objection conveyed to the Turkish side.
It was attended by Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari, Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai and senior diplomats and ministers from the UK, the US, Iran, Tajikistan, China, Saudi Arabia, Kyrgyzstan, the UAE and Russia among others.
Asked about India's view on the re-integration of pro-Taliban elements who want to join the mainstream, the sources said "let's give it a chance", indicating that New Delhi is not completely opposed to holding talks with them.
They said Afghanistan government has a "delicate" task of re-integrating such elements.
Sources said India will continue to work to make itself relevant in Afghanistan.
