India, Russia and China on Friday sought to form a truly inclusive government in Afghanistan, saying that lasting peace in this war-torn country depends on the “urgent elimination” of terrorist organizations banned by the UN Security Council. The three countries called on the Taliban to take actions consistent with the results of all international and regional mechanisms on Afghanistan and UN resolutions, and claimed that Afghanistan’s land should not be used to “threat or attack any other country”. They also called for immediate and unhindered assistance. According to the joint communiqué issued after the meeting of foreign ministers of the Russia-India-China mechanism, they provided assistance to Afghanistan in view of the deteriorating humanitarian situation.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs S Jaishankar, who presided over the meeting, stated that he raised global expectations for Afghanistan, as stated in UN Security Council Resolution 2593, which stipulates that Afghanistan’s land shall not be used to plan or execute terrorist attacks. He said on Twitter: “Afghan territory must not be used by terrorist organizations such as Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad for terrorist activities.”

The 18th round of RIC foreign ministers’ talks was held in the context of the confrontation between India and China on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) issue. The deadlock brought bilateral relations to the lowest level in history and affected trilateral cooperation. Jaishankar and his Chinese colleague Wang Yi avoided mentioning the deadlock and talked about the need to cooperate to deal with challenges such as the Covid-19 crisis.

On the ground, after the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August, there were few signs that the three RIC countries were cooperating on the situation in Afghanistan.

However, Jashankar stated in his opening speech on TV that India, Russia and China need to work together to deal with threats such as terrorism, radicalization and drug trafficking to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches the hands of Afghans unhindered and politicized.

Although he did not name any countries, his remarks about the unhindered provision of aid are clearly referring to Pakistan, which has put on hold the proposal to ship 50,000 tons of wheat from India by land for more than a month. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan recently approved the proposal.

Jaishankar also called for the reform of the multilateral system to ensure a multipolar and rebalanced world based on sovereign equality and respect for international law.

News Source : Hindustan Times