# India meets Taliban

• India joined a 10 nation statement recognising the ‘new reality’ of the Taliban in power in Afghanistan at the Moscow format meeting on wednesday.

• News of the meeting between the Taliban delegation and JP Singh, joint secretary for Pakistan-Afghanistan -Iran, ministry of external affairs, was reported over the twitter handle of the Taliban deputy I&B minister Zabiullah Mujahid.

• Government sources has confirmed that India was considering donation of a large consignment of wheat and other aid to Afghanistan.

# Kushinagar

• Prime minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday inaugurated the Kushinagar international airport in Uttar pradesh.

• This airport will help connect key buddhist pilgrimage sites.

• Kushinagar is an important Buddhist pilgrim destination, and is believed to be the final resting place of Gautam Buddha.

# India-US ties

• US President Joe Biden’s nominee for the post of Ambassador to beijing, Nicholas burns, said the alignment of US and the Indian interests in the Indo-pacific “makes a great difference” in terms of the challenges posed by China.

• However Mr. burns said that US is right to continue its ‘one china’ policy.

# Oil prices

• India, the world’s third largest energy consumer, on wednesday warned that high oil prices will undermine global economic recovery.

• India has also nudged Saudi Arabia and other OPEC countries to work towards affordable and reliable supplies.

# Gold imports

• India’s gold imports are expected to grow further in the coming months on account of peak demand due to the festive and wedding seasons.

• Gold imports, which have a bearing on the current account deficit, zoomed to about $24 billion in the April-September period.

• Imports picked up in August, which recorded the second highest gold imports of 118.08 tonnes.