Tag: Afghanistan Crisis

  • Ready for all possible consequences: BSF DG on situation in Afghanistan

    By PTI

    JAMMU: BSF Director General (DG) S S Deswal on Monday said they are keeping a close watch on the situation in Afghanistan and are fully ready for all possible consequences.

    He, however, described the developments in Afghanistan as that country’s internal matter.

    Deswal, who was on a visit here to flag off the “freedom rally” of 100 cyclists of the Border Security Force (BSF) from Jammu to Gujarat as part of the 75th Independence Day celebrations, was replying to a reporter’s question on the fallout of the Taliban’s near-total takeover in Afghanistan on the Indo-Pak border in Jammu and Kashmir.

    “What is happening in the neighbouring country is its internal matter, but we are keeping a close watch on the situation,” he told reporters at the Octerio Border Out Post (BoP) in the R S Pura sector.

    “We are ready for all possible consequences,” he added.

    Replying to another question on infiltration and the increased use of drones from across the border to ferry weapons, the BSF DG said as a responsible country, India is acting in accordance with the ceasefire agreement with Pakistan.

    “We have not violated the ceasefire,” he added.

    Referring to the use of drones, Deswal said security forces have thwarted most of the attempts to airdrop and smuggle narcotics and weapons.

    “The drone threat is a challenge and we are handling it. In the coming days, technologically, we will be dealing with the issue more efficiently. Systems are being put in place,” he said.

    On cross-border infiltration, Deswal said these incidents have been taking place for long and the security forces have foiled such attempts in the past.

    He said matters between the two sides are resolved peacefully at flag meetings.

  • Afghanistan crisis: Caught in the middle, Afghan students in India stare at nightmarish future

    Express News Service

    CHANDIGARH: The complete takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban has taken the Afghan students in India by surprise. The fast-changing scenario back home has shattered their hopes, left them trembling as they stare at the uncertain fate of their families.

    Talking to The New Indian Express, 30-year-old Abdul Monir Kakar, a PG student of political science in Panjab University, who is in constant touch with his parents back in Kabul, says, “We are looking at an uncertain future. We are worried about our families, country’s future, sovereignty as there are different dimensions to this conflict. We know how the Taliban behaves and treats people. I speak to my family once every hour. They asked me not to go back to Kabul.”

    Zahid Aria (29), a Ph.D. student in defence studies at Panjab University, has been living in India for the last nine years. Aria, who hails from Panjshir province, said: “I have been in constant touch with my family. My parents, younger brothers, and sisters are in a panic as there is anarchy. We know what the Taliban did when they came to power. This time too people fear that the same will happen as they have taken complete control. I cannot go back, the family cannot be moved out from there as the embassies of other countries are closed and air service stopped.”

    ALSO READ | Afghan women’s rights in firing line as Taliban return to power

    “There are around 15,000 Afghan students in India out of these 7,500 are on scholarship and others are self-financed. There are between 150 to 200 students in Chandigarh, Patiala, and Haryana. Most of the Afghan students are in Pune and Bengaluru as per the Afghanistan embassy in Delhi,” he says.

    Wazhmia Shekib, a student of MA political science at Lovely Professional University near Jalandhar, fears that something bad may happen to her mother and young brothers. “My mother is an activist. she runs an NGO and does a lot of work for women empowerment for the last 20 years. That is all going to stop as Tabilban does not care about human rights. I really have a bad feeling. I feel helpless as neither I can’t go back there nor can I do anything,” she says.

    Abdul Hadi Sharifi, who is doing a Ph.D. in management from Punjabi University at Patiala since 2019 and belongs to Panjshir province says, “Now I am really concerned about my future as not only Taliban has captured our country but also captured my future, dreams, and ambition. I had many plans. Now I do not know what to do. I have no country. I am in touch with my parents, brothers, and sisters. They are also scared. My brother is in the Afghan National Army and my father was a Mujahid from 1996 to 2001. Everyone knows Taliban takes revenge and nobody can predict what would happen to them,” he says.

    Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Students’ Association (JKSA) set up a toll-free helpline number for Kashmiri students stuck in Afghanistan to facilitate their safe return home. The helpline number (1800 891 9650) is also open for people from other Indian states and Afghan students in India. National Spokesperson of Association Nasir Khuehami said that there are around 25 students from Jammu and Kashmir who dialed the toll-free number to seek help.

  • Taliban onslaught: India reviews fast deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: India’s defence top brass, the foreign policy establishment and senior intelligence officials are understood to have reviewed the fast-paced developments in Afghanistan on Monday, a day after the Taliban seized control of the country 20 years after it was ousted by a US-led military coalition.

    People familiar with the meetings said the immediate priority of the government is to evacuate nearly 200 Indians, including Indian embassy staffers and security personnel from Kabul as the situation in the Afghan capital was fast deteriorating after the Taliban captured it on Sunday night.

    Capping its month-long rapid advances, the Taliban took positions in Kabul hours after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani left the country on Sunday for an unknown destination, paving way for a bloodless takeover of the capital city but triggering fear, chaos and uncertainty among its residents.

    On Monday, thousands of desperate people converged at the Kabul international airport in hopes of getting on an evacuation flight and leave the country.

    The airport has already been shut for commercial flights and subsequently, the US military has taken control of the airport security to facilitate the evacuation of foreign diplomats and citizens.

    The chaos and panic at the Kabul airport was delaying a decision on sending evacuation flights to the Afghan capital though a number of heavy-lift C-17 Globemaster military transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force is kept on standby for the last two days, people familiar with these deliberations said.

    According to unconfirmed reports, India sent a C-17 Globemaster aircraft to Afghanistan and it returned on Monday.

    There were also security concerns over bringing the Indians from the Indian embassy and other places to the airport in view of the deteriorating security situation in the capital city.

    The government is also looking at bringing back hundreds of Indian citizens and facilitate the evacuation of the members of the Hindu and Sikh minorities as well as Afghan nationals who have applied for visas from the Indian embassy, officials said.

    “The situation is evolving very fast and we are monitoring it closely,” said one of the persons involved in preparations for evacuating the stranded Indians in Kabul.

    India along with so many other countries were surprised at the lightning advances made by the Taliban aross Afghanistan in capturing power after the US began pulling out its troops on May 1 from the country, ahead of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

    “Definitely, we did not expect Kabul to fall so soon,” said an official on condition of anonymity.

    India has been a key stakeholder in Afghanistan and it has invested nearly USD 3 billion in carrying out nearly 500 projects across Afghanistan.

    The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan is largely seen as a setback for India as the militant outfit has strongly been backed by Pakistan’s powerful military.

    Meanwhile, Air India cancelled its Delhi-Kabul-Delhi flight that was scheduled to be operated on Monday and carriers running flight services between India and the western countries avoided the Afghan airspace after it was declared “uncontrolled” by the Kabul airport authorities, senior officials said.

    The Air India flight was the only commercial service scheduled to be operated between India and Afghanistan on Monday.

    The national carrier is the only airline that has been operating flights between the two countries.

    Afghanistan stares at an uncertain future as President Ashraf Ghani left the country just before Kabul fell into the hands of the Taliban on Sunday.

    According to a NOTAM (notice to airmen) issued by the Kabul airport authorities on Monday, the Afghan airspace has been released to the military and any aircraft transit through it “will be uncontrolled”.

    In another NOTAM, it was stated that the civilian side of the Kabul airport has been shut down until further notice.

    ALSO READ | In touch with Indian nationals in Afghanistan; will facilitate those who want to leave: MEA

    Therefore, all carriers operating flights between India and the western countries such as Air India, United Airlines and Terra Avia had to reroute their flights on Monday so as to avoid the Afghan airspace.

    Two Air India flights — one from San Francisco to Delhi and another from Chicago to Delhi — were diverted to Sharjah to avoid the Afghan airspace, senior officials stated.

    Both the planes were refuelled at the Sharjah airport before they departed for Delhi.

    Terra Avia’s flight from Azerbaijan’s Baku to Delhi entered the Afghan airspace in the morning but quickly took a U-turn and decided to avoid it by flying around it.

    The New York-Mumbai flight of United Airlines had to take a different and longer route than usual to avoid the Afghan airspace.

    According to a spokesperson of Vistara, which operates four weekly flights on the Delhi-London route, the airline has stopped using the Afghan airspace and is taking an alternate route for its flights to and from London’s Heathrow airport.

    “We are closely working with the relevant authorities to monitor and assess the situation and taking necessary steps to ensure the safety of our passengers, staff and aircraft,” the spokesperson of the private carrier said.

    Vistara is not going to reduce the number of its Delhi-London flights.

    British Airways, which operates flights between India and the UK, announced on Sunday that it will avoid the Afghan airspace.

    ‘Game over’: Westerners rush to leave Kabul, rescue Afghans

    The beating blades of US military helicopters whisking American diplomats to Kabul’s airport on Sunday punctuated a frantic rush by thousands of other foreigners and Afghans to flee to safety as well, as a stunningly swift Taliban takeover entered the heart of Afghanistan’s capital.

    Two weeks from the Biden administration’s planned full military withdrawal, the United States was pouring thousands of fresh troops back into the country temporarily to safeguard what was gearing up to be a large-scale airlift.

    Shortly before dawn Monday Kabul time, State Department spokesman Ned Price announced the U.S. had completed the evacuation of its embassy in Afghanistan, lowering the American flag.

    At the same time, the administration announced it was taking over air-traffic control at Kabul’s international airport, to manage the airlifts.

    Sporadic gunfire there Sunday frightened Afghan families fearful of Taliban rule and desperate for flights out, one of the last avenues for escape in an evacuation made far more urgent by the Taliban’s weeklong sweep across the country.

    NATO allies that had pulled out their forces ahead of the Biden administration’s intended August 31 withdrawal deadline were sending troops back in as well this weekend to protect evacuations of their own.

    Some complained the US was failing to move fast enough to bring to safety Afghans at risk of reprisal from the Taliban for past work with the Americans and other NATO forces.

    “This is murder by incompetence,” said US Air Force veteran Sam Lerman, struggling Sunday from his home in Woodbridge, Virginia, to find a way out for an Afghan contractor who had guarded Americans and other NATO forces at Afghanistan’s Bagram air base for a decade.

    Massouma Tajik, a 22-year-old data analyst, was among hundreds of Afghans waiting anxiously in the Kabul airport to board an evacuation flight.

    “I see people crying, they are not sure whether their flight will happen or not. Neither am I,” she said by phone, with panic in her voice.

    Educated Afghan women have some of the most to lose under the fundamentalist Taliban, whose past government, overthrown by the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, sought to largely confine women to the home.

    Taliban forces moved early Sunday into a capital beset by fear and declared they were awaiting a peaceful surrender.

    That arrival of the first waves of Taliban insurgents into Kabul prompted the U.S. to begin evacuating the embassy building in full, leaving only acting ambassador Ross Wilson and a core of other diplomats operating at the airport.

    Even as CH-47 helicopters shuttled American diplomats to the airport, and facing criticism at home over the administration’s handling of the withdrawal, Secretary of State Antony Blinken rejected comparisons to the 1975 fall of Saigon.

    “This is being done in a very deliberate way, it’s being done in an orderly way,” Blinken insisted on ABC’s “This Week.”

    A joint statement from the U.S. State and Defense departments pledged late Sunday to fly thousands of Americans, local embassy staff and other “particularly vulnerable Afghan nationals” out of the country.

    It gave no details, but high-profile Afghan women, journalists, and Afghans who’ve worked with Western governments and nonprofits are among those who most fear Taliban targeting for perceived Western ways or ties.

    The statement promised to speed up visa processing for Afghans who used to work with American troops and officials in particular.

    To many, the evacuations, and last-ditch rescue attempts by Americans and other foreigners trying to save Afghan allies, appeared far from orderly.

    An Italian journalist, Francesca Mannocchi, posted a video of an Italian helicopter carrying her to the airport, an armed soldier standing guard at a window.

    Mannochi described watching columns of smoke rising from Kabul as she flew.

    Some were from fires that workers at the US Embassy and others were using to keep sensitive material from falling in Taliban hands.

    She said Afghans stoned an Italian convoy.

    She captioned her brief video: “Kabul airport. Evacuation. Game Over.”

    Hundreds or more Afghans crowded in a part of the airport away from many of the evacuating Westerners.

    Some of them, including a man with a broken leg sitting on the ground, lined up for what was expected to be a last flight out by the country’s Ariana Airlines.

    US officials reported gunfire near the airport Sunday evening and for a time urged civilians to stop coming.

    Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the airport was open for commercial flights, the only escape left for many ordinary Afghans, but would experience stoppages.

    US C-17 transport planes were due to bring thousands of fresh American troops to the airport, then fly out again with evacuating U.S. Embassy staffers.

    The Pentagon was now sending an additional 1,000 troops, bringing the total number to about 6,000, a US defence official said Sunday, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a deployment decision not yet announced by the Pentagon.

    The Pentagon intends to have enough aircraft to fly out as many as 5,000 civilians a day, both Americans and the Afghan translators and others who worked with the U.S. during the war.

    It was by no means clear how long Kabul’s deteriorating security would allow any evacuations to continue.

    German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, whose government had been one of many expressing surprise at the speed of the U.S. withdrawal, told reporters in Berlin on Sunday that it was “difficult to endure” watching how quickly the Taliban took control of Afghanistan and how little government troops were able to do to stop them.

    At a North Carolina-based adoption agency, Mary Beth Lee King sought a way to extricate two Afghan boys, ages 11 and 2, due for adoption by families in America.

    “Even if the U.S. won’t admit them to the U.S., get them somewhere, so that. We know that they are alive and safe,” King said of the two Afghan children.

    In Virginia, Lerman, the Air Force veteran, stayed up overnight Saturday to Sunday to finish an application for a special U.S. visa program meant to rescue Afghans who had worked with Americans.

    When Lerman hit “send,” he got a message saying the State Department email box for the rescue program was full, he said, sharing screenshots.

    The Afghan security contractor he was working to get out was sitting frightened inside his home with the blinds drawn and Taliban fighters outside, he said.

    The State Department said late Sunday afternoon it believed it had fixed the problem.

    “Never in my life have I been ashamed to be an American before,” Lerman said.

    “And I am, deeply.

    (With AP Inputs)

  • There are Indian nationals in Afghanistan; will facilitate those who want to leave: MEA

    By Online Desk

    Breaking silence over the Taliban’s capturing of Afghanistan, the Ministry of External Affairs on Monday said that government has been closely monitoring all developments.

    We are in touch with representatives of Afghan Sikh, Hindu communities and will facilitate those who want to leave Afghanistan, the MEA said in a statement.

    We are aware that there are some Indian nationals in Afghanistan who wish to return and we are in touch with them, the statement said.

    ALSO READ | Taliban take over Afghanistan: What we know and what’s next

    The MEA also said that the repatriation efforts currently paused due to the clouser of commercial operations at Kabul airport.. “Commercial ops from Kabul airport suspended, forced a pause in repatriation efforts; awaiting resumption of flights to restart process”

    Earlier today, commercial flights from Kabul were cancelled after chaotic scenes at the airport with thousands looking for a way out. 

    Air India also cancelled its only flight from Kabul for the same reason.

    The security situation in Kabul has deteriorated significantly in last few days and it is changing rapidly, the MEA added.

    Thousands of Afghans, fearing a return to the Taliban’s brutal rule, are trying to flee the country through Hamid Karzai International Airport.

    Videos circulating on social media showed hundreds of people racing across the tarmac as US soldiers fired warning shots in the air.

    The Taliban swept into the capital on Sunday after the Western-backed government collapsed and President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, bringing a stunning end to a two-decade campaign in which the US and its allies had tried to transform the country.

  • Situation in Afghanistan legacy of US President Biden’s foreign policy, says NC leader Omar Abdullah

    By PTI

    SRINAGAR: National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah on Monday said the situation in Afghanistan is the legacy of US President Joe Biden’s foreign policy.

    He also said Biden cannot blame his predecessor Donald Trump or anyone else for the “vacuum” created in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of the US troops from the war-ravaged country.

    “I don’t grudge the US their departure from Afghanistan but this wasn’t the way to leave. @JoeBiden this is on you. You can’t blame Trump or anyone else for this. As @POTUS you set the final date & created a vacuum. This is your foreign policy legacy, make no mistake,” Abdullah wrote on Twitter.

    He was referring to the scenes at the Kabul airport, the videos of which have gone viral on social media platforms.

  • Afghanistan crisis: Need to review foreign policy regarding neighbouring nations, says Sharad Pawar

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: With the Taliban taking over Afghanistan, NCP president and former Union minister Sharad Pawar on Monday underlined the need to review India’s foreign policy concerning all the neighbouring countries.

    “We should be alert and will have to take precautions in the long run. There was a time when except Pakistan and China, our relations with other neighbours were good,” he told reporters when asked about the Afghanistan crisis.

    ALSO READ: How did the Taliban take over Afghanistan so quickly?

    Taliban insurgents swept into Afghanistan’s capital on Sunday after the government collapsed and President Ashraf Ghani left the country.

    Unprecedented scenes and being witnessed in the Afghan capital Kabul, where panic-stricken people are scurrying to escape from the country.

    “It is time to review our foreign policy concerning other countries. The situation is not good. But it is a sensitive issue. We will cooperate with the government since this is about national security,” the former Defence Minister said.

  • Afghanistan crisis: Air India operates Kabul-Delhi flight with 129 passengers, services not cancelled yet

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Air India’s return flight from Kabul to Delhi departed on Sunday evening with 129 passengers as Taliban forces entered the national capital of Afghanistan and waited for “peaceful transfer” of power.

    Officials of Air India said that there is no plan yet to cancel its Delhi-Kabul-Delhi flight as of now and that it is scheduled to operate on Monday too.

    Currently, only Air India is operating flights between India and Afghanistan.

    The national carrier operated it Delhi-Kabul leg of the flight (with call sign AI-243) on Sunday afternoon with around 40 passengers, officials said.

    Officials said AI-243 departed from Delhi at around 12.45 PM (Indian Standard Time) and had to hover for around one hour above the Kabul airport as it did not get permission to land from the air traffic control (ATC).

    They stated it was not clear what was the reason for the delay in the permission for landing of AI-243.

    Therefore, the flight time for AI-243 on Sunday was around two hours and fifty minutes instead of usual one hour and forty minutes.

    The return flight (with call sign AI-244) departed from the Kabul airport with 129 passengers at around 5.35 PM (Indian Standard Time).

    Officials clarified that there is no plan to cancel Delhi-Kabul-Delhi flight as of now.

    They added that the flight is scheduled to operate on Monday.

    However, they stated that the airline is monitoring the situation closely and it would take appropriate action as required.

    India has put in place contingency plans to evacuate hundreds of its officials and citizens from Kabul that has been gripped by fear and panic following reports of Taliban fighters entering the outskirts of the Afghan capital city on Sunday.

    People familiar with the development said the government will not put the lives of its staffers at the Indian embassy and Indian citizens in Kabul at any risk and plans have already been finalised in case they require emergency evacuation.

  • Afghanistan crisis: India should have adopted pragamatic route, say experts

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: Afghanistan watchers feel India should have adapted its Kabul strategy in tune withthe rapid changing scenario ever since the resurgence of the Taliban.

    “India’s policy has been counterproductive ever since the US announced its withdrawal plans. Delhi should have entered into talks with the Taliban once it began offensive and showed signs of success. Even if such talks might have already happened, they shouldn’t have been denied but proudly embraced as the type of flexible pragmatism characteristic of a rising power like India,” Russia-based analyst Andrew Korybko said.

    A former diplomat said India has missed a trick. “It was not expected that the Taliban resurgence would be so rapid but New Delhi should have adapted to the fast-changing scenario. Now, they stand the risk of becoming irrelevant and also due to India’s historical stand.” It was on Thursday that the MEA said India is in touch with all stakeholders in

    Afghanistan, a departure from its previous stand of not establishing contacts with terrorist organisations like the Taliban. This, Korybko asserted,  has led to India isolating itself from the Extended Troika,which in turn greatly diminished whatever remaining influence it had there.

    “As the Taliban sweeps through Afghanistan, India has now surprisingly become practically irrelevant. The Afghan government and military are rapidly collapsing while Delhi has zero influence over the rising Taliban. Even if India and most of the international community doesn’t recognise a Taliban government, they’ll still need to have pragmatic interactions with it.”

    India also stands a risk of losing around $3 billion of its assisted projects with local media suggesting that the Taliban is targeting individuals and projects having links to New Delhi.”India’s strategists need to think long and hard about why they didn’t seize the diplomatic opportunity to talk to the Taliban over the past few months. That mistake is responsible for India losing almost everything it gained in Afghanistan over the past two decades and in less than a month’s time,” Korybko said.

  • Will certainly seek Indian military support when situation calls for it: Afghan envoy

    Express News Service

    In an exclusive interview with Pushkar Banakar, Afghanistan’s ambassador to India Farid Mamundzay speaks on how the current peace dialogue is not meaningful and how Pakistan could have played a constructive role in tackling the Taliban.

    Q: The US is withdrawing troops completely from Afghanistan by end of August, much earlier than expected. Do you think it has affected Afghanistan’s preparedness and hence resulted in the deterioration of the security situation?

    A: Yes the withdrawal of US and NATO forces had a negative impact on the security situation of the country. There has been feeling among the wider segments of our population that the global community has abandoned us and that hit the morale of our security forces and as a result, we saw an emboldened Taliban. What is your assessment of the negotiations with the Taliban, especially with more than one channel like the Istanbul Process, Qatar Negotiations, etc in place?

    Q: Do you think the outcome of the dialogue has been successful?

    A: There is currently no meaningful dialogue with the Taliban. What we see in Qatar or the talks in Istanbul or meetings in Moscow are just optics. There is no genuine appetite on the part of the Taliban to resolve the current conflict through meaningful peace settlement. So, the peace process from September last year onwards till today has been a process that has not delivered anything. We gave it another try a few weeks ago and that meeting also failed to produce anything but a statement. The Afghan people expected that the Taliban would honour their request for a ceasefire. There has been no agreement on even this. We are nowhere where we should ideally have been.

    Q: India has been a consistent partner for Afghanistan over decades with development projects close to $3 billion. What steps are you taking to protect Indian interests in the country?

    A: We value our partnership with India. It is not just a partnership between two governments. It is a partnership between both countries. It is historic and deeply rooted in the hearts and minds of many Afghans. India has been a very valuable partner over the past two decades and they have assisted us with huge infrastructure projects, education support and, trade and commerce assistance. India has played a very instrumental role in the growth of our society and the development of our democratic state. We would ideally want India’s involvement in all peace-related efforts for a number of reasons. India has not been a part of peace talks, particularly the extended troika which is something we are not pleased about. India’s involvement in the process is critical and we welcome it. India has always adopted a principled position on the peace process and has proven itself to be a very credible and trustworthy friend and has always sided with Afghan people in difficult situations.

    The infrastructure projects by India are not only for the government but also for the people of that particular region and they are mindful of the benefits of those projects. There are many instances where they have stood up and protected the projects. It is also our responsibility to ensure the safety and security of these projects. We are doing everything we can to ensure safety and security. Taliban have inflicted huge losses on infrastructure and human lives.

    Q: How big is Pakistan a factor in the rapid resurgence of the Taliban? President Ghani called out Islamabad during the connectivity meeting in Uzbekistan, Afghan officials have told India that terror groups are shifting base to Afghanistan. How do you see the situation and what are your plans to ensure that Afghan soil is not used for terrorist activities?

    A: Pakistan could have played a more constructive role by helping the Afghan government and Afghan people to eliminate the Taliban’s sanctuaries on their soil. Taliban has a huge presence in Pakistan. It helps them mobilise resources and they operate from Pakistan to inflict harm on Afghanistan. Our request to Islamabad always has been to stop the Taliban from committing atrocities and deal with them in the manner required. Sadly, we have not seen any concrete actions which would show that the mindset in Pakistan has changed. There is more support provided to the Taliban by many madrasas and religious scholars in Pakistan due to which they end up having more fighters from Pakistan entering Afghanistan and killing our people. They should put more pressure on the Taliban to come to the negotiation table and not give them a free hand to commit atrocities on Afghan soil.

    Reports are emerging that Indian journalist Danish Siddiqui was deliberately targeted by the Taliban for his nationality and his body was returned in a mutilated state. Do you have anything to say about this?

    I have no details on the death of Danish Siddiqui. It was a very unfortunate incident where we lost an Army officer with him. It was a brutal and inhuman act of terror. There is a strong belief among the local population that he was targeted for his nationality but I do not have details to verify this. We are looking at all evidence and we do not rule out any possibilities.

    India has recently assumed the presidency of the UNSC. What cooperative measures you are expecting from India directly and also through regional and global platforms?

    India assuming the role of UNSC chair for August is something that we welcome and we have urged the Indian government to provide us the required platform to raise the voice of the Afghan public. We have recently requested External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to help call a special session on Afghanistan, particularly focusing on the recent spike in violence and the peace process. UNSC is the most powerful body of the UN with a lot of influence and authority and it could be used as a place for putting pressure on the Taliban and their supporters to let go of violence, cut ties with international terror groups and enter a meaningful peace dialogue with the Afghan govt. India has always believed in a peaceful settlement in Afghanistan and we look forward to a constructive engagement. Regionally, India has always extended its assistance by reinforcing the will of the Republic through strong representation and reiterating the values and principles that the Afghan people desire to have in a peaceful Afghanistan.

    Q:  Taliban leaders, who were released by the Afghan government due to pressure from the West and the US, are now leading assaults in some areas. Do you think the decision to release them has been counter-productive?’ and not ‘Taliban leaders, who were released by the Afghan government due to pressure from the West and the US, are not leading assaults in some areas. Do you think the decision to release them has been counter-productive?

    A: The release of the Taliban prisoners was something we did in goodwill. We assumed that the Taliban would have changed. We anticipated that with their release, we would get a step closer to the peace process and create an enabling environment for the peace dialogue. It was a difficult decision as some of the released prisoners were awaiting capital punishment for the atrocities they had committed on innocent people. However, for the greater good of the country, it was taken. We now see people who have abused that opportunity and are working against the will of the Afghan public. The decision has been counter-productive.

    Q: With the Taliban continuing its resurgence, are you looking at India for military assistance?

    A: No, there is no such proposal being discussed with India as the support that our forces are getting from the US and NATO member states is sufficient. In the future, if we get to a stage where we require military assistance, we would certainly be looking at India for that support. As of now, we have the required resources to combat the Taliban and other terror outlets.

  • PM Modi expresses concern over increasing violence in Afghanistan

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday expressed concern over increasing violence in Afghanistan and called for a comprehensive ceasefire for ending the hostilities while assuring India’s full support in the development journey of the war-ravaged country.

    In a virtual meeting with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Modi said as close neighbours and strong strategic partners, both India and Afghanistan want to see the region free of extremism and terrorism.

    The prime minister also said no “outside force” will be able to stop Afghanistan’s journey towards development as well as its friendship with India.

    Referring to the Afghan peace process, he said unity within the country was important and hoped that a “united Afghanistan” will be capable of dealing with any challenge facing it.

    “We are concerned over increasing violence in Afghanistan. We support a comprehensive ceasefire in the country,” the prime minister said.

    The online meeting was held to finalise an agreement under which India will construct a dam in Kabul river basin to supply water to the Afghan capital city.

    In his remarks, Ghani said India’s development assistance to Afghanistan is iconically marked on the country’s landscape.

    India has been a major stakeholder in the peace and stability of Afghanistan and it has already invested USD two billion in aid and reconstruction activities in the war-ravaged country.

    In November last, India announced a new package of over 100 high impact community projects worth USD 80 million for Afghanistan at a global conference on Afghanistan.

    The Shahtoot Dam in Kabul is part of the new developmental package.

    The agreement was signed by foreign ministers of the two countries.