Dushanbe/New Delhi, The global community must think carefully and hold consultations with each other before giving acceptance to the new regime in Afghanistan which is not inclusive and has been put in place without negotiations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday, giving India’s first official reaction to the Taliban regime in Kabul.
In his address to the SCO-CSTO Outreach summit on Afghanistan, Prime Minister Modi also said that if violence and extremism continues in Afghanistan it will lead to a spike in radicalism and extremism across the world and encourage terrorist organisations across the world to resort to extremism and violence to capture power.
“The developments in Afghanistan will have an impact on neighbouring countries like India and for that it is very important to have regional focus and regional cooperation on the issue,” PM Modi said.
He cited four points to focus on:
"First is that the new dispensation in Afghanistan is not inclusive and has been put in place without negotiations. This poses questions on its acceptability. The representation of women and minorities and every section of Afghan society in the government is very important.
"And that is why it is very important that the global community think carefully and hold consultations before giving acceptance to the new regime in Kabul. On this, India supports the central role of the UN," PM Modi said.
The second issue is: If violence and extremism continues in Afghanistan then it will lead to a spike in radicalism and extremism across the world. Other terrorist organisation will also get encouraged to resort to extremism and violence to capture power, he said.
“All our countries have been affected by terrorism, and that’s why we should together decide that Afghanistan’s territory must not be allowed for terrorist activities in another nation.”
He said that SCO member nations should draw up strict and clear norms on this. Later, these norms can become a template for global anti-terror cooperation
“These norms should be based on zero tolerance for terrorism,” he stressed.
“This should include a code of conduct to put a stop to cross-border terrorist activities and terror financing, as well as for their enforcement,” he said.
The third point, was that the developments in Afghanistan can lead to large scale increase in trafficking of drugs, illegal weapons and humans.
“Huge amount of sophisticated weapons have been left behind in Afghanistan, and due to this the threat of instability in the entire region will remain,” he said, referring to the weapons left behind by the US in Afghanistan after they exited the country on August 30.
In order to monitor such illegal inflows and for information-sharing the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure mechanism can be a useful platform, he said.
From this month, India will be heading the SCO-RATS “and we have come up with proposals for cooperation on this issue”.
The fourth issue he highlighted was on the grave humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.
“Afghanistan is facing a grave humanitarian crisis, due to the stoppage of financial and trade flows, their economic woes are increasing, with Covid posing an additional challenge.”
“For Afghanistan’s development and humanitarian aid, India has always been a trusted friend for years – from infrastructure to education, and capacity building, in every sector and region of Afghanistan, we have helped.
“Today too, we are keen to send medicine and food for our Afghan friends,” PM Modi said.
“We must together decide how to send humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, without any risks involved.”
He said that Afghanistan and India have shared close relations for centuries.
"India is ready to help Afghan society in every regional and global effort," he added.
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