Terrorism A Major Threat In Region Once Again, NSA Doval Says At Moscow Meet On Afghanistan

NSA Ajit Doval Wednesday attended Moscow format of talks on security situation in Afghanistan under Taliban regime. He said India continues to be an ‘important stakeholder’ in the war-torn country.

NSA Ajit Doval (extreme left) at the 5th Regional Dialogue on Afghanistan held in Moscow.

Source : Special arrangement

New Delhi: National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval Wednesday said in Moscow terrorism has once again become a “major threat” in South Asia, and that terror networks cannot be allowed to operate in Afghanistan, which is now under the Taliban regime, ABP Live has learnt. Doval was attending the fifth Regional Dialogue on Afghanistan in the Russian capital where India was invited, apart from Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

“Terrorism has become a major threat in the region”, and that dealing with Daesh and terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Muhamed (JeM) requires “intensified intelligence and security cooperation between respective States and its agencies”, the NSA said at the meeting, top-level sources told ABP Live.

The NSA once again reaffirmed the importance of UNSCR 2593 (2021) that calls for terror outfits, including those designated by UNSCR 1267, to be denied sanctuary in the region, the sources said.

The third round of this conference was held in New Delhi under the chairmanship of NSA Doval in November 2021, while the fourth meeting was held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, in May 2022.

Hinting at Pakistan, the NSA also said no country should be allowed to use Afghan territory to export terrorism and radicalisation.

“India is and will remain an important stakeholder in Afghanistan. We always stood by people of Afghanistan and will always support collective efforts to help Afghan people build a prosperous and vibrant nation once again,” Doval said.

The NSA’s comments come in the wake of the deadly terror attacks at a mosque in Pakistan's Peshawar last month in which over 93 people were killed and several injured.

‘India has a historical and special relationship with Afghanistan’

Highlighting India’s long-standing support for the development of Afghanistan Doval said New Delhi will continue to remain “an important stakeholder” in that country.

“We always stood by the people of Afghanistan and will always support collective efforts to help Afghan people build a prosperous and vibrant nation once again,” he said in the multilateral meeting.

India has so far delivered 40,000 MT of wheat, 60 tonnes of medicines, 500,000 Covid vaccines, winter clothing and 28 tonnes of disaster relief since the Taliban takeover in August 2021. The Indian Embassy in Kabul is overseeing the humanitarian assistance programme. 

The NSA also stressed on the fact that natural resources of Afghanistan should be utilised first for the welfare of the people there.

“Afghanistan is passing through a difficult phase. India has a historical and special relationship with Afghanistan. Well being and humanitarian needs of people of Afghanistan is India’s foremost priority. This will continue to guide our approach,” Doval said in the meeting, according to the sources quoted above.

Doval said this in the backdrop of recent Chinese investments there in the field of oil and gas sector even as Beijing signed a deal with the Taliban regime there in extraction of crude from the northern Amu Darya basin in January this year.

In the meeting, the NSA once again urged the Taliban interim regime in Kabul to create an “inclusive and representative dispensation in the larger interest of Afghan society".