ALMATY, Apr 26:
In an apparent reference to Pakistan, India today cautioned of the “persistent threat” Afghanistan faced from beyond its borders and asked countries in the region to acknowledge the rising dangers posed by these forces and step up counter-terrorism efforts.
External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, addressing an global conference on Afghanistan attended by representatives of over 30 nations and multilateral organisations, also counselled on exercising “care and caution” while pulling out international forces from the war-torn nation.
He also made it clear that India did not see Afghanistan as a zone of competitive influence and want it to be an opportunity for regional cooperation.
Speaking at the ‘Heart of Asia’ ministerial conference on Afghanistan, he said the country would experience lasting peace only if short-sighted perceptions of competition and strategic depth were replaced by collaboration and economic investment by countries of the region and the rest of the world.
“While striving for realisation of this vision, we however do not have any illusion that, we can ignore political and security issues that stand in the way. We have no doubt that the greatest challenge posed to vision of Afghanistan is the persistent threat of terrorism that emanates from beyond its borders,” he said.
The Almaty Declaration, adopted at the end of the conference, called on regional and non-regional countries to step up counter-terrorism efforts at national and multi-lateral levels, particularly with a focus on dismantling terrorist and organised crime sanctuaries, safe havens, and disrupting the financing, training and equipping of terrorist activities.
The conference also welcomed India’s initiative in implementing the Trade, Commerce and Investment Opportunities CBM, one of the six CBMs taken by the ministerial.
The meeting on Afghanistan is the third Heart of Asia ministerial-level meeting of the Istanbul Process and is attended by 14 countries in the neighbourhood and 16 others.
It assumes significance in the wake of the proposed withdrawal of US-led NATO forces from Afghanistan in 2014.
Noting that other countries in the region, especially India, were not immune to this threat, Khurshid said an honest commitment to the principles enshrined in the Almaty Declaration will have to begin with an “acknowledgement of the rising dangers posed by these forces of extremism and terrorism to the future of Afghanistan.”
He said India recognised that the solution to Afghanistan’s problems cannot be purely military but has to be rooted in political approach that enjoyed a democratic sanction.
Later, talking to reporters, Khurshid noted that the strategy preferred by a lot of nations, including the US, favoured engagement with the Taliban in order to have an inclusive process in negotiating peace in Afghanistan.
He said India believed that the peace process has to be Afghan-owned and Afghan-driven and obviously whatever has taken place so far — in the Doha process or the efforts made by the High Peace Council– were Afghan-owned.
“To what extent they are driven exclusively by Afghanistan or by other people in something on which there is an ongoing dialouge. We do believe that there has to be care and caution that one should not overlook care an caution simply because there is this desire to retreat or withdraw or to draw back in haste,” he said.
Khurshid said the red lines have been clearly demarcated by the world community and the requirements in this respect of the Afghan Constitution and disassociation from any act of terror or ideology of terrorism has been emphasised.
“I don’t think there is a disagreement. But, practically application of the principle, I guess sometimes there can be some variance. We are just insisting and emphasising that we should have this clarity in order to have sustainable peace in Afghanistan,” he said.
Sharing India’s vision of the Heart of Asia process, Khurshid said he saw it as one of trade, transit, energy and communication routes criss-crossing and knitting the entire region from Turkey to India and other countries of South Asia, and between Eurasia and the Arabian Sea, with Afghanistan at its heart.
“But we do not see Afghanistan as merely a ‘bridge’ or a ’roundabout’ connecting these regions contributing only as a transit route, but as a possible driver of economic growth in the region with development of its human resources; its natural endowment including minerals and hydrocarbon resources,” Khurshid said.
Stressing that India’s focus has been on economic empowerment of Afghanistan, Khurshid said New Delhi had waived off basic customs duties on all Afghan products thus giving them preferential access to the 1.2 billion-strong Indian market.
He said India would be constructing Afghanistan’s first steel plant and has made investments in the Hajigak iron ore mines.
Khurshid also called on Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev and met Foreign Ministers of Turkey and Kyrgyzstan on the sidelines of the conference.
The minister was also seen having a chat with Pakistan Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani in the conference hall. (AGENCIES)
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