World wants to see a peaceful Afghanistan, free from malign influences: India on Pakistan
Jaishakar made these remarks in the presence of Blinken, who is on his first visit to India after assuming office. He will also meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
FollowDescribing the atrocities being committed by the Taliban in their advance across Afghanistan as “deeply troubling”, visiting US Secretary of State Antony J Blinken said Wednesday that this does not speak well of Taliban “intentions” and “taking over power by force” cannot be a path to international recognition.
Underlining the importance of peace negotiations in Afghanistan, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar on Wednesday spoke against the unilateral "imposition of will" in the war-torn country while calling for preserving the gains made over the past two decades.
During a joint presser with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Jaishankar said, "The gains to Afghan civil society, especially rights of women, minorities and social freedom --- over the last two decades are self-evident. Afghanistan must never be home to terrorism, nor become a source of refugees."
“Regarding Afghanistan, it is essential that the peace negotiations are taken seriously by all parties. The world wishes to see an independent, democratic, sovereign and stable Afghanistan, at peace with itself and with its neighbours.
“But its independence and sovereignty will only be ensured if it is free from malign influences,” the EAM said, in an oblique reference to Pakistan and its harbouring of militants on the Afghan border.
“Similarly unilateral imposition of will by any party will obviously not be democratic and can never lead to stability. Nor indeed can such efforts ever acquire legitimacy. The gains to Afghan civil society, especially the rights of women, minorities and all social freedoms over the last two decades are self -evident. We must collectively work to preserve them,” he said.
Echoing Jaishankar, Blinken said, “An Afghanistan that does not respect the rights of its people, an Afghanistan that commits atrocities against its own people, would become a pariah state… There’s only one path, and that’s at the negotiating table to resolve the conflict peacefully.”
Underlining that their meeting was taking place at an “important juncture when key global and regional challenges need to be effectively addressed”, Jaishankar made India’s discomfiture with the US decision to withdraw from Afghanistan amply clear.
Blinken said, “We are both committed to the proposition that there is no military solution to the conflict that afflicts Afghanistan. There has to be a peaceful resolution which requires the Taliban and the Afghan government to come to the table, and we both agree, I think strongly, that any future government in Afghanistan has to be inclusive and fully representative of the Afghan people.”
In this context, he said both India and the US are “in alignment”. He said although the US is withdrawing its troops, it remains “very much engaged” on economic, development and military assistance to the Afghan national security forces.
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