Delhi hosts Regional Security Dialogue on Afghanistan

The NSAs and secretaries of the National Security Councils reiterated strong support for a peaceful, secure and stable Afghanistan while emphasizing the respect for sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity and non-interference in its internal affairs, at the Regional Security Dialogue on Afghanistan held in New Delhi on Wednesday. The NSAs collectively called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the completion of the Dialogue.

New Delhi: The third Regional Security Dialogue on Afghanistan was held in New Delhi on Wednesday. According to sources, the dialogue exceeded India's expectations.

"The NSAs easily arrived at a complete consensus, which enabled us to issue the joint Delhi Declaration. Every delegation was appreciative of the timing of the event and the opportunity to engage in frank and open discussions", sources said.

Every country got the opportunity to put across their views in a forthright manner. This is the only dialogue at the level of NSAs and there was complete unanimity on the need to continue this process and have regular consultations. There was an extraordinary degree of convergence on the assessments of the situation in Afghanistan and the principal challenges in Afghanistan and the region, sources said. These included the security situation, heightened risk of terrorism and the impending humanitarian crisis.

The NSAs reiterated strong support for a peaceful, secure and stable Afghanistan while emphasizing the respect for sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity and non-interference in its internal affairs. They expressed deep concern over the suffering of the people of Afghanistan arising from the security situation in Afghanistan and condemned the terrorist attacks in Kunduz, Kandahar and Kabul.

They noted the need to provide humanitarian assistance and emphasized that the land and air routes should be made available and no one should impede the process, sources said.

Read:Security dialogue on Afghan voices concern, urges nations to up aid

The NSAs appreciated the timely and efficient organization of this Dialogue by India and reiterated the need to continue regular consultations among regional countries in this format. They also stressed that no one should boycott the process due to bilateral agendas.

A press statement issued by Prime Minister's office said that the NSAs had a very substantive exchange during their call on the PM. PM shared India’s perspective on Afghanistan. The NSAs conveyed greetings from their leaders and also appreciated India’s initiative of hosting the Dialogue, the statement said.

The PM emphasised four aspects that countries in the region would need to focus on, in the context of Afghanistan: the need for an inclusive government; a zero-tolerance stance about Afghan territory being used by terrorist groups; a strategy to counter trafficking of drugs and arms from Afghanistan; and addressing the increasingly critical humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, PMO said.

Later in the day, NSA had bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Russia, Kazakhstan and Iran. These were substantive meetings and reflected the personal chemistry of NSA with his counterparts. There were detailed discussions on Afghanistan as well as on bilateral relations.

Read: Delhi Security Dialogue: NSA Doval meets Tajik, Uzbek counterparts ahead of event

Some of the focus issues discussed with Russia were future high-level exchanges, defence cooperation and deepening interaction between the NSCs.

With Kazakhstan, besides Afghanistan, there were discussions on enhancing connectivity and trading routes between the two countries, and practical steps to be taken in this direction.

During the meeting with Iran, bilateral trade and the current state of relations were discussed, besides Afghanistan. Iran having hosted the previous two meetings of this format, discussions on how to carry forward this process also took place.