United Nations: India has called on the international community to ensure that Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), and other terrorist organisations do not exploit Afghanistan’s territory.
“India is closely monitoring the security situation in Afghanistan,” India’s Permanent Representative P. Harish told the Security Council on Wednesday.
“The international community must coordinate efforts towards ensuring that entities and individuals designated by the UN Security Council, the ISIL (Islamic State group) and Al-Qaeda and their affiliates, including Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, along with those who facilitate their operations, no longer exploit the Afghan territory for terrorist activities,” he said.
Harish said that India welcomed “the strong condemnation” of the Pahalgam terrorist attack by LeT affiliate, The Resistance Front, which killed 26 civilians based on their religion.
The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, who spoke earlier during the Council discussion on the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), warned that the presence of “extremist groups” posed a problem for Afghanistan despite “a notable decline in large-scale armed conflict and violence”.
The Taliban regime, which took over Afghanistan after the US withdrew its troops in 2021, has not been recognised by the UN, which refers to it as the “de facto authorities”, and by most countries, including India. Harish, however, said a fresh approach was needed towards Afghanistan.
“Any coherent policy to address a post-conflict situation must combine incentivising positive behaviour and disincentivising harmful actions,” he said. “Focusing only on punitive measures is unlikely to meet desired results,” he said.
He pointed out that the UN and the international community have “adopted more nuanced approaches in other post-conflict contexts”, and added that similarly “Afghanistan needs a fresh approach with hitherto unused policy instruments to support its people who are in such a dire need”.
Maintaining the status quo “is not good for Afghanistan and unlikely to meet international community expectations for Afghanistan’s people,” he added. He said that India “will continue engaging with all relevant stakeholders”.
On the political front, India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has spoken twice with Afghanistan’s Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, he said. Muttaqi was expected to visit New Delhi this month, but his trip was cancelled because he is under UN sanctions, which restrict his travel. (IANS)
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