Evacuation ops, helping Afghans priority: Centre at all-party meet
New Delhi: India’s priorities in Afghanistan are evacuating all its nationals and helping Afghans in distress, even as New Delhi waits to see whether the Taliban forms a new set-up on its own or shares power with others, the government told leaders of political parties on Thursday.
External affairs minister S Jaishankar and foreign secretary Harsh Shringla briefed parliamentary leaders of 31 parties on the latest developments in Afghanistan after the capital Kabul was captured by the Taliban on August 15 following the collapse of the Ashraf Ghani government.
The situation in Afghanistan is fluid and India is keeping a close watch on developments as it continues consultations with important stakeholders and regional countries. The Indian side is also continuing its engagement with the Afghan people and closely monitoring political and security developments, the MPs were told.
Jaishankar told the lawmakers that India’s immediate priorities in the current circumstances included evacuating all Indian nationals and providing assistance to Afghan nationals in distress, according to people familiar with the briefing.
In a detailed presentation for the MPs, the foreign secretary said the Indian side is watching whether the new set-up in Kabul will be solely a government of the Taliban or there will be power-sharing with other Afghan leaders, the people said on condition of anonymity.
Union minister and leader of the house in the Rajya Sabha, Piyush Goyal, and parliamentary affairs minister Prahlad Joshi were present during the briefing held at the Parliament annexe. The briefing was attended by 37 leaders from 31 parties, including NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of the Congress party in Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, former Union minister Anand Sharma, TR Baalu of the DMK, and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda.
Jaishankar said in a string of tweets: “Our immediate concern and task is evacuation and long term interest is the friendship for the Afghan people.” He said evacuation operations were conducted in “extremely difficult conditions especially at the airport”.
The foreign minister noted in his tweets that there is “longstanding national sentiment on Afghanistan”, as well as “national concern now at developments”. India’s strong friendship with the Afghan people is reflected in more than 500 development projects, and this friendship “will continue to guide us”, he said. He added “India’s footprint and activities” in Afghanistan will be shaped by “ongoing changes”.
The people cited above said the MPs were informed that India, which holds the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council for August, convened a special session on Afghanistan on August 16 and also made a statement at a session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The broad message conveyed by most Security Council members was that the world community should use all tools to suppress the global terrorist threat in Afghanistan and guarantee that basic human rights are respected.
India also currently chairs the UN 1988 sanctions committee, which oversees the designation and delisting of Taliban leaders. The sanctions committee is expected to play a key role in the issue of extending a travel exemption for sanctioned top Taliban leaders such as Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar in September.
The Indian embassy issued a series of security advisories for Indian nationals on June 29, July 24, and August 10 and 12. The final advisories asked Indians to leave immediately and warned them about the discontinuation of commercial flights.