‘Ensure Afghanistan soil isn’t used for anti-India activities’
Our expectation is that Afghanistan should never be used for anti-India activities
NEW DELHI: New Delhi on Saturday made it clear that any new dispensation that emerges from the intra-Afghan dialogue process must ensure that the soil of Afghanistan is never used for anti-India activities. External affairs minister S Jaishankar, who joined the inaugural session of the intra-Afghan negotiations in Doha, Qatar, via video conference, reiterated India’s support for an Afghan-led, Afghanowned and Afghancontrolled peace process and sought an immediate ceasefire in the war-torn country. capital.
NEW DELHI: New Delhi on Saturday made it clear that any new dispensation that emerges from the intra-Afghan dialogue process must ensure that the soil of Afghanistan is never used for anti-India activities.
External affairs minister S Jaishankar, who joined the inaugural session of the intra-Afghan negotiations in Doha, Qatar, via video conference, reiterated India’s support for an Afghanled, Afghan-owned and Afghancontrolled peace process and sought an immediate ceasefire in the war-torn country.
Teams comprising representatives of the Afghan government and the Taliban will come faceto-face for the first time on Monday for peace talks in Qatar’s capital for a negotiated settlement after nearly two decades of war. The talks were to have begun in March but were delayed by differences over the release of prisoners.
Jaishankar, who joined the event at the invitation of Qatar’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister Mohammad bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, said: “Our friendship with Afghanistan is strong and unshaken, we have always been good neighbours and will always be so. Our expectation is that the soil of Afghanistan should never be used for any anti-India activities.”
The peace process, he said, has to address the violence in Afghanistan and the neighbourhood and also protect the interests of minorities and women.
Jaishankar said, “It [the peace process] has to respect national sovereignty and territorial integrity of Afghanistan. It should promote the values of human rights and democracy that can foster development. The interests of the minorities, women and vulnerable must be ensured.
“And most important, the issue of violence across the country and its neighbourhood has to be effectively addressed. The rising levels of violence cannot be allowed to continue and, like others, we support an immediate, comprehensive ceasefire.”
India, which is the region’s largest provider of development aid to Afghanistan, has watched a recent spike in violence and attacks on minorities such as Sikhs with growing concern. Since 2001, India has undertaken projects worth $3 billion in Afghanistan, including $1 billion pledged in 2016 under the “new development partnership” scheme for five years.