Jaishankar: Talks only answer… Afghanistan future can’t be its past

REFLECTING the urgency and concern over the developing situation in Afghanistan, India Wednesday said the world is “against seizure of power by violence and force”, and “peace negotiations in earnest are the only answer”.

This was spelt out by S Jaishankar at the meeting of foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), in Dushanbe Wednesday. Foreign Ministers Sergey Lavrov (Russia), Wang Yi (China) and Shah Mahmood Qureshi (Pakistan) were present at the meeting, among others.

In a series of tweets, Jaishankar said, “The world, region and the Afghan people all want the same end state: An independent, neutral, unified, peaceful, democratic and prosperous nation… The future of Afghanistan cannot be its past. A whole new generation has different expectations. We should not let them down.”

He added, “The world is against the seizure of power by violence and force. It will not legitimise such actions… An acceptable compromise that reflects the Doha process (talks in Qatar), Moscow Format (led by Russia) and Istanbul Process (an initiative of Turkey and Afghanistan) is essential.”

Jaishankar called for “ceasing violence and terrorist attacks against civilians and state representatives”, settlement of conflict “through political dialogue”, respect towards “interests of all ethnic groups”, and ensuring that “neighbours are not threatened by terrorism, separatism and extremism”.

The challenge, the External Affairs Minister said, was to “act seriously and sincerely on these beliefs”, because there are “forces at work with a very different agenda” — in an oblique reference to Pakistan.

India has pulled out its officials and staffers from its consulate in Kandahar in the past few days and is monitoring the situation in Mazar-e-Sharif where it has another consulate. Last year, officials and personnel at the consulates in Herat and Jalalabad had been evacuated amid the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the Indian Embassy in Kabul is still functional at full strength.

Jaishankar also underlined combating terrorism and extremism, and checking of terror financing, as the key purpose of the SCO, in his address at the meeting in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan.

Apart from the situation in Afghanistan, he said public health and economic recovery were pressing issues facing the region. Underlining “One Earth One Health”, he urged early universal vaccination against Covid-19, and pressed for “reformed multilateralism”.

An eight-member economic and security bloc, the SCO has emerged as one of the largest trans-regional international organisations and is seen as a counterweight to NATO.