India is in no hurry to deliberate on giving recognition to the Taliban government in Afghanistan, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday, according to PTI. He added that the developments in Afghanistan will have “very significant consequences” for the region.
Addressing the annual leadership summit of the United States-India Strategic Partnership Forum, Jaishankar said that India’s concerns about Afghanistan included the formation of an inclusive government and that the country is not used to foster terrorism.
The external affairs minister said that India’s concerns about the situation in Afghanistan were captured by a United Nations Security Council resolution in August. On August 30, the last day of India’s presidency of the Security Council, the UN body had adopted a resolution urging the Taliban to keep its commitments on preventing terror groups in Afghanistan.
Jaishankar said that India has been a victim of cross-border terrorism from Afghanistan, which has shaped the country’s view on some of the neighbours of Afghanistan. He said that India and the US were on the “same page” when it came to concerns about Afghan soil being used for terrorism.
However, he said that there were “some concerns” regarding the US-Taliban peace deal that took place in Doha on September 5, 2020. Jaishankar said that India was not taken into confidence on certain aspects of the deal.
However, he also said that if he were to draw sharp conclusions on this matter, it would require time. “Because as I said, a lot of this, whatever understandings [in Doha], there have been, many of these are not known to the entire international community,” he said.
The United States was involved in negotiations on and off with the Taliban to bring the conflict in Afghanistan – that started in 2001 – to an end in exchange for withdrawal of its troops and those of its allies.
In February 2020, the US announced that it had reached an understanding with the Taliban to significantly reduce violence across Afghanistan for a week. Following the success of this measure, a peace deal was signed between the Taliban and the US in September that year.
Quad not against any country, says Jaishankar
During the summit, Jaishankar also said that the Quad grouping was not against any country and it should not be perceived as if the alliance is “ganging up [against other countries]”. The Quad is a coalition comprising India, the US, Australia and Japan.
“I think it’s very important not to be sort of railroaded into some kind of negative discourse, which actually is not from our script, it is somebody else’s script,” he said. And I don’t think we should fall for that.”
The external affairs minister also said that the rise of China, which is a “salient player in the international economy”, had had a “fundamental impact” on the international order.
He said that every country will have to make bilateral choices to deal with China.
“So what are my problems, or my opportunities would not be the same as that for the US, or Australia, or Japan, or Indonesia or France,” he added.
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