New Delhi made clear on Saturday that any new dispensations emerging from the intra-Afghan dialogue process must ensure that Afghanistan’s soil is never used for anti-Indian activities.
Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, who joined the inaugural session of the intra-Afghan negotiations in Doha, Qatar, via videoconference, reiterated India’s support for an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and controlled by Afghans. peace process and sought an immediate ceasefire in the war-torn country.
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Teams made up of representatives of the Afghan government and the Taliban will meet face-to-face for the first time on Monday to hold peace talks in the Qatari capital for a negotiated settlement after nearly two decades of war. The talks were supposed to have started in March but were delayed due to differences over the release of the prisoners.
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Jaishankar, who joined the event at the invitation of Qatari Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, said: “Our friendship with Afghanistan is strong and unbreakable, we have always been good neighbors and always will be. Our expectation is that Afghanistan’s soil is never used for anti-Indian activities. ”
The peace process, he said, has to address violence in Afghanistan and the neighborhood and also protect the interests of minorities and women.
Jaishankar said: [the peace process] it has to respect the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of Afghanistan. It must promote the values of human rights and democracy that can foster development. The interests of minorities, women and the vulnerable must be guaranteed.
“And most importantly, the problem of violence throughout the country and its neighborhood must be effectively addressed. The increasing levels of violence cannot be allowed to continue and, like others, we support an immediate and complete ceasefire. ”
India, which is the region’s largest provider of development aid to Afghanistan, has watched a recent increase in violence and attacks against minorities such as Sikhs with growing concern. Since 2001, India has undertaken $ 3 billion worth of projects in Afghanistan, including $ 1 billion pledged in 2016 under the “new partnership for development” scheme for a period of five years.
Jaishankar referred to India’s role in development aid and spoke about the infrastructure created by the Indian association that spans the 34 provinces, “be it the house of parliament for the nation, transmission lines and hospitals in Kabul, the dam of friendship in Herat, Afghanistan national university of agricultural science and technology in Kandahar ”.
“Equally impressive have been the capacity building projects, scholarships and youth training,” he said, adding that India has supplied more than one million tonnes of food grains in recent years. To address the challenge posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, India provided more than 15 tons of life-saving medicines and medical equipment and facilitated the travel of Afghan nationals to India for medical treatment.
He added: “These are just examples of our deep commitment to the well-being, prosperity and stability of the Afghan nation, and today, these are the goals that bring us here to discuss peace and reconciliation. Our approach in that regard has always been consistent: any peace process must be Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled. ”
A delegation of senior officials led by JP Singh, Deputy Secretary (Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also participated in the opening ceremony in Doha.
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