Afghan peace process should protect minorities: EAM Jaishankar

New Delhi, September 12

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday hoped that the Afghan peace process, which began on Saturday, would preserve the interests of minorities, women and vulnerable sections. “The issue of violence across the country and its neighbourhood has to be effectively addressed,” Jaishankar said while participating in the inaugural session of the intra-Afghan negotiations via a video link.

He also referred to India’s role as a development partner with over 400 projects completed in all 34 provinces of Afghanistan. Giving a gist of his address in a series of tweets, Jaishankar reaffirmed India’s long-held position that the peace process should be “Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled”. The representatives of Afghanistan’s two warring factions are now in Qatar for US-brokered negotiations on a political settlement to the war. A senior official of a delegation led by MEA’s Pakistan-Afghanistan-India desk chief JP Singh participated in the ceremony at Doha. However, a report by the International Crisis Group anticipates that the government team may try to slow down the process till the US elections in the hope that a Joe Biden victory might change the policy. In an indication of Pakistan’s pivotal role in facilitating the US-Taliban accord in February, the US Army’s Central Command chief, Gen Kenneth McKenzie, met Pakistan Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, a day before the negotiations. The Afghan Government team is headed by Abdullah Abdullah, who is pro-India. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the US’ Special Afghan envoy Zalmay Khalilzad addressed one of India’s main concerns — that Afghanistan might revert to being the training ground for terrorists if the Taliban shares power in Kabul. — TNS