NEW DELHI: India finally seemed to have shed some of its ambiguity on Afghanistan with PM Narendra Modi himself calling upon the international community Friday to not rush into recognising the Taliban government saying it was not inclusive and formed without negotiations.
Addressing an Afghanistan outreach session of the SCO-CSTO summit in Dushanbe, as he underlined the significance of efforts to ensure that Afghanistan wasn’t used to spread terrorism, Modi called for a code of conduct to check cross-border terrorism and terror-financing and said instability and radicalisation in Afghanistan can encourage “other terrorist groups” to grab power through violent means.
In his first public remarks on Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover of Kabul, Modi backed a central role for the UN on the issue of recognition for the Afghanistan government that hasn’t provided representation to all ethnic groups and has sought to exclude minorities and women.
“The first issue is that the regime change hasn’t been inclusive and has taken place without any negotiation. This raises question marks about the acceptability of the new dispensation,” said Modi, adding recent developments in Afghanistan will have the greatest impact on neighboring countries like India.
‘’That’s why it’s essential for the global community to take any decision on recognition for the new dispensation collectively and only after giving it a proper thought,” he said.
Modi’s remarks also came in the middle of speculation about an Indian “outreach” to Taliban after the government announced a meeting with a senior Taliban leader in Doha. The Taliban though never publicly acknowledged that meeting with the Indian ambassador. On recognition, India doesn’t see its position as different from that of Russia which, while working closely with Taliban, has said it’s in no hurry to officially recognise the Taliban government and will wait to see if they fulfil their commitment on terrorism and drug-trafficking.
Apart from the legitimacy issue, Modi listed terrorism fuelled by instability and radicalisation, drug-trafficking, illegal weapons and the humanitarian crisis as the top issues that needed to be addressed. He added India was ready to provide humanitarian aid to Afghanistan and also back any regional or global initiative to help the people of Afghanistan.
Modi said instability and radicalisation in Afghanistan will encourage terrorist and extremist forces and called upon SCO member-states to develop, based on a zero-tolerance approach to terrorism, strict and shared norms that serve as a template for global anti-terror cooperation in the future. “These norms should include a code of conduct to check cross-border terrorism and terror-financing activities and also a mechanism for its implementation,” said Modi.
“In his address, Prime Minister highlighted the problems caused by growing radicalisation and extremism in the broader SCO region, which runs counter to the history of the region as a bastion of moderate and progressive cultures and values,” said the government in a statement.
Modi made a special mention of radicalisation as the root cause of the issues plaguing the region, including trust deficit. On the basis of the historical heritage of Central Asia, he said SCO should develop a common template to fight radicalisation and extremism.
Modi said the fact that a large number of advanced weapons were still in Afghanistan had added to the fears of further instability in the region and added that the SCO RATS mechanism can play a positive role in dealing with this issue through information sharing.
Earlier in the day, the PM had said that connectivity initiatives under SCO must be transparent, participatory and not undermine the territorial integrity of any country.
“Any initiative on connectivity cannot be a one-way street. In this regard, respect for the territorial integrity of all countries should be implicit. Based on these principles, SCO should develop suitable norms for connectivity projects in the region. With this we will be able to restore the traditional connectivity of this region and only then connectivity projects will work to connect us, not to increase the distance between us,” he said.
