Heart of Asia: India Backs UN-Led Meet, Urges Afghan Stakeholders to Engage in 'Good Faith'

 Speaking at the Tajikistan conference, S. Jaishankar ostensibly backed the Joseph Biden administration’s new roadmap for talks on the Afghan peace process.

 

New Delhi: India on Tuesday, March 30, said that negotiating parties had to engage in good faith – with serious commitment to a political solution – for the Afghan peace process to be successful.

Speaking at the regional Heart of Asia ministerial conference, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar ostensibly backed the Joseph Biden administration’s new roadmap for talks, which called for an expedited peace process through direct inter-Afghan talks and a United Nations-led regional conference in Turkey.

“If the peace process is to be successful, then it is necessary to ensure that the negotiating parties continue to engage in good faith, with a serious commitment towards reaching a political solution,” Jaishankar said at the ministerial conference in Tajikistan.

He asserted that India welcomed “any move towards a genuine political settlement and a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire in Afghanistan”.

In reference to the joint statement of the extended ‘Troika’ meeting held in Moscow, Jaishankar said, “We appreciate the international recognition of foundational principles that will determine their contours.”

 

On March 18, Russia, China, Pakistan and the United States had stated that they do not support the restoration of the Islamic Emirate and called on the Taliban and the Afghan government to engage in bringing a negotiated settlement. The political roadmap should include modalities for a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire, ensure no terror group uses Afghan soil to threaten security in another country, and protect all Afghans, including women and minorities, the joint statement said.

Jaishankar also expressly indicated that India would participate in the regional conference of six countries proposed by the United States, to be held under the UN’s aegis. “We support a regional process to be convened under the aegis of the United Nations. UN stewardship would help to take into account all relevant UN resolutions and improve the odds for a lasting outcome”.

He noted that durable peace in Afghanistan requires “genuine ‘double peace’, that is, peace within Afghanistan and peace around Afghanistan”. “It requires harmonising the interests of all, both within and around that country”.

The Indian minister added that India had supported all efforts to accelerate dialogue, including the Doha process. He reminded that India had participated virtually in the inaugural session of the intra-Afghan talks in Doha too.

Jaishankar reiterated the Indian position – that the gains of the last two decades in universal suffrage and protection of rights of citizens should not be squandered.

The Indian minister also expressed concern with the escalation of targeted killings of civil society and foreign fighters’ continued presence in Afghanistan. 

“Heart of Asia members and supporting countries should, therefore, make it a priority to press for an immediate reduction in violence leading to a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire,” he said.

At the conference, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani provided details of his government’s counter-proposal for expediting the peace process.

“We envision three phases to this passage: making, building and sustaining peace, focused on achieving the agreed upon end state of a sovereign, democratic, united, neutral and connected Afghanistan,” he said, as quoted by Tolo News.

Ghani said that the first phase should include a ceasefire with international verification. This phase would also help zero in on the “principles of forming a government of peace-building within the framework of the Constitution with a time-bound mandate,” which will, ultimately, lead to an internationally-supervised presidential election.

Indicating that he wants to remain in power, Ghani proposed that the “peace-building government” should be formed by the current elected leadership.

“Building peace is the process of forming a government of peace building formed by the current elected leadership and the other Afghans who will not be elected in the next election within the framework of the Constitution of Afghanistan,” he explained.

He noted that any agreement that results from the intra-afghan talks would have to be endorsed by a Loya Jirga.

Ghani said the final phase following an election is to sustain peace. “This process includes long-term work of national reconciliation, reintegration of combatants and refugees defining our new security development and government’s priority,” he said.

There is still no announcement of a date for talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban in Turkey, but they are expected to be held in early April.

At the end of the conference, the “Dushanbe Declaration” voiced support for the “renewed diplomatic efforts by all countries to accelerate the peace process through a meaningful peace negotiation, including the ongoing negotiations in Doha, the Moscow ‘Troika plus’ meeting, and diligent preparations for a high-level meeting in Turkey”.

The joint statement also said that the regional countries recognise that “a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire will enable all sides to reach an agreement on a political settlement, and in this regard, we affirm that any political settlement must protect the rights of all Afghans, including women, youth and minorities.”

“It should also respect the strong desire of Afghans to achieve durable peace and prosperity, and must respond to their strong desire to sustain and build on the economic, social, political and development gains achieved since 2001, including respect for Afghanistan’s international obligations,” added the multilateral document.

Condemning the deliberate targeting of civilians by the Taliban and terror groups, the regional conference called for an immediate, permanent and comprehensive ceasefire, resumption of meaningful peace negotiations and full respect for International Humanitarian Law.

The declaration also affirmed that Afghan territory should not be used as “as safe havens for any terrorist groups, foreign terrorist entity, including Daesh/ISIS, Al-Qaida or other regional and international terrorist groups and their affiliates, including those referenced in the previous HoA Declarations”.

In the 2016 Heart of Asia joint statement, there had been specific mention of terror groups targeting India, like Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, but these have not appeared in subsequent documents.

SOURCE ; THE WIRE

 

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(With input from news agency language)

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