India also holds meeting on Afghanistan

NEW DELHI: India Sunday said it has been able to build a “regional consensus” with five Central Asian countries on Afghanistan and the Taliban regime there. Concurrently, Pakistan hosted a special session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to address the economic crisis in the war-torn country.

For the 3rd meeting of the India-Central Asia Dialogue, foreign ministers from all the five Central Asian countries — Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyz Republic — were in attendance in New Delhi. The situation in Afghanistan and the mounting economic and humanitarian crisis there took centre stage at the meet.

“We all also share deep-rooted historical and civilizational ties with Afghanistan. Our concerns and objectives in that country are similar: a truly inclusive and representative government, the fight against terrorism and drug trafficking, ensuring unhindered humanitarian assistance and preserving the rights of women, children and the minorities.

We must find ways of helping the people of Afghanistan,” External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said at the meet. According to a joint statement, the ministers reiterated their “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”.

All of them “unequivocally” stated their support for UNSC Resolution 2593 (2021), which demands that Afghan territory not be used for sheltering, training, planning or financing terrorist acts and calls for concerted action against all terrorist groups.