If India, Russia and China had a consensus on the situation in Afghanistan, then the Taliban would face a lot of regional pressure, Afghanistan’s Ambassador to India Farid Mamundzay has said.
In an exclusive interview with ThePrint, the envoy — appointed by the former Ashraf Ghani government in 2020 — called on regional players like India, China, Russia, Pakistan and Iran to be “unified” on Afghanistan. He added that National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval’s expected visit to Moscow this month to hold a regional dialogue on Afghanistan is a step in the right direction.
“The region also has a responsibility. Sadly, that’s not happening. We have important, powerful countries in the region including India, China, Russia as well as Pakistan and Iran. They need to be unified,” said Mamundzay.
“If we had Russia, China and India on the same page, there is a lot of regional pressure that the Taliban would face. That is not the case today but the visit of the NSA to Moscow is in the right direction,” added the envoy.
This month, top security officials of India, Pakistan, China and central Asian countries are expected to meet in Moscow for a regional discussion on Afghanistan.
Last May, multilateral consultations on Afghanistan between top security officials were held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
The Afghan ambassador expressed optimism about India’s presidency of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), adding that the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group established in 2005 is the type of “intensive engagement” needed at this time. He further warned that there are terror groups in Afghanistan protected and supported by Taliban who have “regional and international ambitions”.
On 16 September last year, India took over the rotating presidency of the eight-member SCO, comprising China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan. (The Print)
