Qatar mediates as Russia sends arms to Tajikistan

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 12

Qatar was trying to reduce differences between the Kremlin and the Taliban as Moscow sent more military equipment to Tajikistan, bordering the restive Baghlan province and Panjshir Valley, while its former PM Dmitry Medvedev expressed concern over the presence of thousands of ISIS fighters.

Russia had sent to Tajikistan armoured vehicles and other military equipment, said its Defence Ministry. Medvedev said tens of thousands of ISIS fighters were located in Afghanistan, including the provinces on the border with Central Asian countries. “The US pulling out of Afghanistan is only heating up the activity of the terrorist organisation, which remains an enormous threat to Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe,” he wrote in an article.

Russia and India appear to be on the same page on the threats posed by radical Islamists to the security of Chechnya and Kashmir, respectively. India too has repeatedly asked the Taliban to make good on its promise to deny safe havens to terrorists targeting other countries. Qatar Foreign Minister Mohammad bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani met his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow and then reached Kabul for parleys with the Taliban leadership. "The aim was to strength international cooperation for supporting stability in Afghanistan," tweeted Al-Thani.

Qatar has a huge stake in bringing about recognition for the Taliban as it had midwifed the so-called peace talks that led to the Taliban returning to power. The absence of recognition from the major world powers is leading to economic and humanitarian crises in Afghanistan. Long lines have formed outside banks which have restricted withdrawals and are refusing dollars to conserve foreign exchange. The UN has warned that 97 per cent of the Afghan population could slide into abject poverty next year.

‘Uninclusive govt unlikely to survive’

New Delhi: Describing the new Afghanistan Government as “spectacularly uninclusive” even within the Taliban frame, author-historian William Dalrymple says the “all-male old guard ultra-conservative Pashtun mullah” establishment is unlikely to survive. PTI