- Wednesday, February 26, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIA on Thursday (11) criticised Pakistan over its decision to not attend the recent regional security dialogue held in New Delhi on the situation in Afghanistan, saying it shows its approach towards issues concerning the war-torn country.
Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson of India’s external affairs ministry, said at a weekly briefing that India had also invited China for the meeting which was attended by the national security advisors (NSAs) of seven nations apart from India but it also skipped the event due to “scheduling reasons”.
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“We had also invited Pakistan. Skipping such an important meeting shows their attitude towards the issues concerning Afghanistan,” Bagchi said while responding to a query.
Central Asian countries like Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan took part in the meeting in New Delhi besides Iran and Russia. The meeting was chaired by Indian NSA Ajit Doval.
At the meeting, the participants slammed terrorist activities in Afghanistan and reaffirmed their strong commitment to combat terror in all its forms, including its financing, dismantling of terrorist infrastructure and tackling radicalisation, to ensure that Afghanistan would never turn into a safe haven for global terror.
They also sought collective cooperation against challenges like radicalisation, extremism, separatism and drug-trafficking in the region.
Meanwhile, China on Wednesday (10) said it would attend a meeting on Afghanistan convened by Pakistan, its all-weather friend.
Pakistan hosted senior diplomats from the US, China and Russia in Islamabad on Thursday to discuss the situation in Afghanistan under the name ‘Troika Plus’ meeting.
When asked whether China would attend the meeting in the Pakistani capital at a media briefing in Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said that “China supports Pakistan in hosting this extended meeting of the China-US-Russia consultation mechanism and supports all international efforts conducive to promoting peace and stability in Afghanistan and building consensus among all parties”.
In Islamabad, sources in Pakistan’s foreign office said that Pakistan attaches high importance to the ‘Troika Plus’ mechanism on the situation in Afghanistan and hopes that “deliberations of the meeting would contribute to the ongoing efforts for achieving lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan”.
A delegation led by Taliban’s acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi reached Islamabad on Wednesday to meet the Pakistani leadership.
