Conference on Afghanistan called by India can help prevent a humanitarian disaster
China did not attend the conference on Afghanistan hosted by India in the name of a Communist Party Meeting in Beijing.
The Conference on Afghanistan which was called by the National Security Adviser to GOI, Ajit Doval will go a long way in stabilizing the war-torn nation. The eight nations who have given their assent to attend the meet include-Iran; Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Russia, China and Pakistan were invited for the talks.
As usual, Pakistan played spoilsport and accused India of meddling in the affairs of Afghanistan. China also supported its all-weather ally since it has its eyes on the Copper and other mineral wealth of Afghanistan.
It is a good sign that India has finally seized the opportunity and discarded its wait and see policy of the past. India has invested billions of dollars by the way of the critical infrastructures of Afghanistan. It includes roads, dams and power transmission. India also constructed the Afghan Parliament building. There is a lot of goodwill for India among the Afghanistan population.
The Pakistani refusal to attend the meeting on the flimsy ground that India has played a spoiler in the past finds little agreement except for China. China has not declined the invitation but will keep an eye on the deliberation. Pakistani NSA Moid Yusuf contends that India always played spoilsport. However, there is no instance in the past 50 years when India has ever meddled in the affairs of Afghanistan.
India has sent 75,000 tons of food materials to the impoverished nation last year and is willing to send more than 50,000 tons of wheat this year but Pakistan is not allowing transit for the wheat to be delivered.
China did not attend the Afghanistan summit hosted by India and said that a very important Communist Party Meeting is taking place in Beijing and therefore it is not able to send a delegation to the Conference on Afghanistan. Pakistan has also boycotted two meeting about Afghanistan which was hosted by Iran earlier because India was attending it. India has been talking with the Taliban in Doha and also in Moscow. Therefore Pakistan should have attended the Afghanistan Conference hosted by India.
Afghanistan is not composed only of Pashtuns and there are a sizeable population of Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hazaras, Shias and Kazaks. Therefore all the eight nations which are attending the conference have their interests in the stability of Afghanistan. It is true that the Taliban is a protégé of Pakistan security establishment but it has never been an obedient follower of Pakistan.
Taliban has already said that Kashmir is an internal issue of India and there is no reason not to believe them to date. New Delhi must engage all the neighbours of Afghanistan and see to it that the country does not have a food crisis. The West has abandoned Afghanistan and it is for the regional players to come together and prevent a humanitarian disaster.
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