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Updated June 24th, 2021 at 22:40 IST

India brought power, dams, schools to Afghanistan; world knows what Pakistan brought: MEA

In a sarcastic but stern message, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi added that the world knows what Pakistan has brought to Afghanistan, in contrast to India

Reported by: Jitesh Vachhatani
India
Image Credits: AP/PTI | Image:self
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Emphasizing New Delhi's commitment to peace in neighbouring Afghanistan, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) swiped at Pakistan's own influence in Kabul amid the ongoing withdrawal of US troops from the subcontinent after nearly 20 years of battle with Taliban insurgency. Retaliating to Islamabad's recent statement against India's role in Afghanistan, the MEA pointed out India's efforts to bring electricity, dams, schools, healthcare and community projects to Afghanistan. In a sarcastic but stern message, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi added that the world knows what Pakistan has brought to Afghanistan in contrast to New Delhi. 

"India has brought electricity, dams, schools, healthcare, and community projects to Afghanistan. And the world knows what Pakistan has brought to Afghanistan," the MEA spokesperson said on Thursday. 

Bagchi also stated that New Delhi supports peace initiatives and remains in touch with various stakeholders including regional countries. Bagchi's swipe at Pakistan comes after Imran Khan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that India’s presence in Afghanistan is larger than it ought to be. Ironically, Qureshi's comment came on the same day as he admitted Pakistan's role in funding terrorism albeit blaming it on previous governments. 

India, for long, has held Pakistan accountable for creating a safe haven for terror groups operating Afghanistan, including the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and the Haqqani Network, not to mention the fact that Osama Bin Laden hid for years in Pakistan within a kilometre of a Pakistani Army base. In his address to the media on Thursday, the MEA spokesperson made mention of Foreign Minister S Jaishankar’s statement at a UN Security Council debate on Afghanistan which laid out India’s concern at the upsurge in violence and the vision for Afghanistan’s future as US troops pull out of the region, a process that is expected to culminate by September 11 this year. 

S Jaishankar presses for comprehensive ceasefire

During a UN Security Council debate on the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan on Tuesday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar pressed for a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire in the war-torn nation to ensure immediate reduction in violence and protection of civilian lives.

"For enduring peace in Afghanistan, terrorist safe havens and sanctuaries must be dismantled immediately and terrorist supply chains disrupted. There needs to be zero tolerance for terrorism in all its forms and manifestations including its cross-border one,” he said in a reference to Pakistan.

Noting that the intra-Afghan talks have not resulted in a reduction of violence in Afghanistan, Jaishankar said, "It is therefore crucial that the international community and, in particular, this Council presses for a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire to ensure immediate reduction in violence and protection of civilian lives."

"A durable peace in Afghanistan requires a genuine “double peace”. That is peace within Afghanistan and peace around Afghanistan. It requires harmonizing the interests of all, both within and around that country," he said.

Meanwhile, a panel of UN experts said this month that violence perpetrated by Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan continues to hamper the peace negotiations with the Afghanistan government. The U.N. experts, who monitor sanctions against the Taliban, predicted more violence in the run-up to their departure, raising a significant question as to how would the Afghanistan military manage without any external support. A peace deal that Washington brokered with the Taliban and signed in February 2020 was aimed at bringing American troops home and ending more than four decades of relentless wars following the 1979 Afghan invasion by forces from the former Soviet Union.

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Published June 24th, 2021 at 22:40 IST

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