New Delhi: Presenting India’s view at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Foreign Ministers Contact Group meeting on Afghanistan at Dushanbe on Wednesday, India’s External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar said that the world is against the seizure of power by violence and force and it will not legitimize such actions.
Jaishankar arrived at Dushanbe on Tuesday to discuss the political situation in Afghanistan within the framework of the SCO. India has been fighting at the global forefront for peaceful, independent and democratic Afghanistan. India has time and again reiterated its stance that any peace process must be Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled and has to respect the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of Afghanistan.
In his remark at the SCO meeting in Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe, Jaishankar said, “Peace negotiations in earnest are the only answer. An acceptable compromise that reflects Doha process, Moscow format and Istanbul process is essential”. 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, region and the Afghan people all want the same end state - an independent, neutral, unified, peaceful, democratic and prosperous Afghanistan," Jaishankar said. He further reiterated that the challenge is to act seriously and sincerely on these beliefs while reminding that there are forces at work with a very different agenda.
“The world is against seizure of power by violence and force. It will not legitimize such actions”, he added at the SCO meeting. It was indirectly referred to as the Taliban. During the SCO meeting, Jaishankar came face to face with his Russian, Pakistani and Chinese counterpart who along with other SCO member states attended the meeting.
So far, several rounds of talks have taken place on the Afghan peace process between the Taliban, Afghan leaders and the world leaders at Doha, Moscow and Istanbul. But no concrete decision could be reached on the situation in Afghanistan.
Earlier on Wednesday, speaking at the Foreign Ministers Meeting of SCO, EAM Jaishankar said that combating terrorism and extremism is the key purpose of SCO. “Must stop terror financing and deter digital facilitation”, he added.
He described the situation in Afghanistan as well as public health and economic recovery as pressing issues. He also highlighted the one earth One Health message and urged for early universal vaccination.
The situation in Afghanistan is turning volatile with each passing day and this has become a global concern now. In the last few weeks, the war-torn country saw a series of terror attacks as the United States looked to complete the withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan by August end as announced by President Biden last week. Moreover, it is expected that External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar is likely to hold a bilateral meet with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi today on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers meet in Tajikistan.
This meeting will be the second face-to-face talk between Jaishankar and Wang Yi since the stand-offs started in early May last year at the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The last time, the two leaders had met in Moscow in September last year during the Foreign Ministers' meet of the SCO countries and discussed standoff at the LAC in Ladakh, which had seen violent clashes.
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