Pakistan’s national security advisor will not attend a conference that India is scheduled to hold next week to discuss the situation in Afghanistan, Dawn reported.
The conference will be hosted by the team of India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on November 10 and 11, according to The Indian Express. Iran, Russia, China are also among the countries invited for the talks.
Moeed Yusuf, Doval’s Pakistani counterpart, said he will not be a part of the talks in India. “A spoiler can’t become a peacemaker,” he said at a press briefing.
Yusuf blamed India for stalling the regional peace process. “Unfortunately [because of] the government’s behaviour and ideology there, I don’t see how this [peace] process will move forward – not just for Pakistan but the region,” he said, according to Dawn.
Pakistan’s national security advisor added: “The world has unfortunately kept its eyes closed and is not talking to India as it should.”
Yusuf said that Pakistan cannot detach itself from Afghanistan. “It may be a luxury for the Western world sitting 10,000 miles away but we do not have any option to disengage from Afghanistan,” he said.
Afghanistan was taken over by the Taliban in August as the United States and its allies were preparing to pull their troops out of the country after 20 years. The insurgent group’s return to power triggered turmoil in Afghanistan, with thousands of people leaving the country to escape their feared rule.
India and several other countries undertook missions to evacuate their citizens from the conflict-torn country.
In September, an interim Taliban government was formed in Afghanistan. The country’s new prime minister, Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund, is on the sanctions list of the United Nations.
The international community has called for a peaceful resolution to the turmoil in Afghanistan. At a virtual summit on September 9, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the leaders of Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa had emphasised on the need for a dialogue to ensure peace and order in Afghanistan.
In October, 10 countries, including India, China and Pakistan, participated in the third Moscow Format Consultations on Afghanistan. Russia has been organising the meeting since 2017 to discuss matters related to Afghanistan.
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