Peace negotiation in Afghanistan should not leave ungoverned spaces that could become breeding ground for terrorists and sponsors of terrorism, India said on Thursday. Its concerns were expressed by an official of the Ministry of External Affairs days after U.S. President Donald Trump called off talks with the Taliban in the Qatari capital Doha after a bomb attack in Kabul.
“Our position is that any process should respect the constitutional legacy and mandate, should not leave any ungoverned spaces where terrorists and their proxies would relocate. We are reasonably confident that any decision on the peace process which is being taken by the international community including the U.S. will accommodate our concerns. We have conveyed these concerns in regular intervals including with the Special Envoy several times in the past few months,” said official spokesperson of the Ministry Raveesh Kumar.
India has extended support to Afghanistan’s government led by President Ashraf Ghani over a range of activities including building infrastructure and the domain of security. New Delhi had maintained silence after President Trump had abruptly cancelled the talks. The Taliban group had travelled to Russia and China and had held talks with multiple countries in the Gulf. However, India has indicated that it favours an “Afghan-led and Afghan-owned” peace talks.
“We are following the developments including the talks between the Taiban and the U.S. very closely. We believe all sections of the Afghan society including the legitimately elected Afghan government should be part of this process. We have supported the election to unfold later this month,” said Mr. Kumar.
He said there had been no change in the position on Afghan talks and New Delhi continued to demand a broad-based political discussion to ensure long term peace and political stability.
