Terror from Afghan soil key concern, says India
MEA spokesperson says majority evacuated, New Delhi to revisit the issue once Kabul’s airport becomes operational
NEW DELHI: India’s main concern in Afghanistan is the use of Afghan soil for terrorism or anti-India activities and it is too early to talk of issues such as any possible recognition of the Taliban regime, the external affairs ministry said on Thursday -- days after US forces completed their withdrawal and marked a chaotic end to 20 years of war in the country that is now ruled by the Taliban.
A majority of Indians have been evacuated from Afghanistan and New Delhi will revisit the issue once the Kabul airport is made operational once again, the ministry said.
It also reiterated that it has no information on what the new Afghanistan government, likely to be announced by the Taliban in the coming days, will look like. “We are not aware of any detail or nature of what kind of government could be formed in Afghanistan,” said MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi.
He said Indian diplomats’ meeting with Taliban leader Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai in Doha this week was used to convey New Delhi’s concerns over the possible use of Afghan
territory for anti-India activities, and to bring back the remaining Indians from Afghanistan. “We received a positive response,” he said.
At a regular news briefing, Bagchi ducked all questions on whether India still perceives the Taliban as a terror group and on recognising any government formed by the group, and said:
“Our main concern, one of the primary, immediate concerns is that Afghan soil should not be used for anti-Indian activities or terrorism against India. That is one of our main issues.”
Thursday’s briefing was the first since the government held a meeting with other party leaders and informed them that New Delhi’s focus is to evacuate all its citizens and help Afghans in distress while keeping a close watch on the Taliban’s announcements on possible government formation in the nation.
When asked if India will recognise a Taliban regime, Bagchi said: “It was just a meeting. I think these are very early days.”
The external affairs ministry spokesperson said he has no “update” on another possible meeting with the Talibam, and added that wouldn’t “speculate on the future”.
India’s ambassador to Qatar, Deepak Mittal, met Sher Mohammed Abbas Stanekzai, head of the Taliban’s political office in Doha on Tuesday after months of backchannel contacts between the Indian side and the Taliban.
The meeting was held at the Indian embassy in Doha “on the request of the Taliban side”, the ministry had said in a brief statement.
Ahead of the meeting in Doha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi directed a high-level group, which includes external affairs minister S Jaishankar and national security adviser Ajit Doval, to focus on India’s immediate priorities against the backdrop of the rapidly evolving situation in Afghanistan. Among these priorities are the safe return of Indians stranded in Afghanistan, travel of Afghan nationals, especially minorities such as Sikhs and Hindus, to India, and assuring that Afghan territory is not used in any manner for terrorism directed against India, people aware of the matter had said earlier.
The group, which has been meeting regularly, includes senior officials from key ministries and security and intelligence organisations.
The group is monitoring the ground situation in Afghanistan, where the US completed the drawdown of its troops on Monday, and international reactions to the latest developments, such as the resolution passed by the UN Security Council on Tuesday.
In the resolution adopted at the end of India’s presidency of the UN Security Council for the month of August, the body demanded that Afghan soil shouldn’t be used to attack any country or to shelter terrorists.
The external affairs ministry acknowledged at a briefing last week that at least 20 Indian nationals had missed a military evacuation flight from Kabul on August 25 but didn’t give an exact number for Indians who are still in Afghanistan.
Another 140-odd Afghan Sikhs and Hindus were also barred by the Taliban from entering Kabul airport to take a military evacuation flight on August 25 and efforts are underway to get them out.
On the security front, India’s greatest concern is the reported presence in Afghanistan of up to 10,000 fighters from Pakistanbased terror groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-eJhangvi.
There are also concerns about the Haqqani Network, a key faction of the Taliban that has targeted Indian interests in the past and has close ties to Pakistan’s security establishment.