The United Nations Security Council, in a statement on terrorist attacks near the Kabul airport that called on Afghan groups not to support terrorists “operating on territory of any other country”, has dropped the reference to Taliban.
India, which assumed the rotating Presidency of the UNSC for August, signed off on the statement and issued it in its capacity as the chair for this month.
On August 16, in another statement on Afghanistan, the UNSC had adopted a different stand, warning that “neither the Taliban nor any other Afghan group or individual should support terrorists operating on the territory of any other country”.
The start contrast was pointed out by Syed Akbaruddin, India’s permanent representative at the United Nations till April last year, who said the “T word is gone”.
In diplomacy…A fortnight is a long time…The ‘T’ word is gone…Compare the marked portions of @UN Security Council statements issued on 16 August & on 27 August… pic.twitter.com/BPZTk23oqX
— Syed Akbaruddin (@AkbaruddinIndia) August 28, 2021
Foreign minister S Jaishankar, when asked how India views the Taliban leadership, had called it “early days” and said the focus was on bringing back Indian nationals stuck in Afghanistan.
Taliban, meanwhile, said they never had issues with India’s projects in Afghanistan but were opposing their support to the “puppet” government of Ashraf Ghani, Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen has said in an exclusive interview to CNN-News18, paving the roadmap for India’s ties with those now holding the reins of the war-torn nation.
Responding to a question on India’s investments in Afghanistan over the past 20 years — from roads, dams to even the parliament building — and if the hardliners had stopped bilateral trade, Shaheen said the projects for the benefit of Afghans must be completed if under construction.
“About their (India’s) projects which are good for the people of Afghanistan and which contribute to the welfare of people of Afghanistan, if they are incomplete then they can complete it. What we were opposing was their siding with the former government.
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