Now that the NATO troops, led by the United States, have wound up their business from Afghanistan that took place amidst a blood-drenched chaos in Kabul, the western countries now want India and other countries in the region to play a bigger role in terms of pushing the Taliban to act as it had promised under the Doha deal signed with the US in February 2020, with a particular focus on human rights and women’s rights there instead of only maintaining a presence there for the sake of safeguarding their own national security. This week, the United States and Canada special envoys to Afghanistan made a beeline in New Delhi to assess its role in the war-torn country as an immediate neighbour.
Thomas West, US Special Representative to Afghanistan, and David Sproule, Canada’s Special Representative for Afghanistan came to India, undertook a visit to New Delhi to not just understand what is India’s plan for the future when it came to Afghanistan, but to also suggest to the authorities here that India, which is now dealing with the Taliban, on a regular basis even as the Narendra Modi government is keen to activate trade with Kabul via the Chabahar Port. The US, Canada, as well the European Union (EU), are holding closed-door dialogues with the Indian government to direct their efforts into securing guarantees from the Taliban that it acts as Taliban 2.0 as they believe that the Islamist group is increasingly becoming their old self.
From not having an inclusive government, banning education for girls and restricting rights of women, to carrying out public executions, the Taliban have left no stone unturned to signal to the world that they have not changed, and that their policies, that are technically sermons given from Kandahar to Kabul, are as regressive as they were back in 1996 when the Sunni nationalist group were in power there. The Taliban is acting like the old setup despite the commitments made by them under the so-called ‘Doha Peace Deal’ signed by them with the United States. When the Taliban entered Kabul and the former President Ashraf Ghani fled the country leading to a collapse of the republic, the international community hoped of seeing a changed Afghanistan. But the opposite has happened.
When the Taliban announced the creation of an interim government in September 2021, it set up an administration that was devoid of women and minorities. Since then, despite several protests from the international community, the Taliban have refused to make any changes. The Taliban came under scathing attack from the western countries for banning women and girls’ education but the Taliban of today, led by Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, one of the founders who is on a UN blacklist, has refused to withdraw that decision. The western countries, especially those who host millions of Afghan refugees on their soil, are now telling India to coax the Taliban in these matters if Kabul wants business with New Delhi, and also see flow of investments.
Last month, the European Union vehemently called out the three public executions that took place in Ghazni on February 22 and in Sheberghan on February 26. EU’s special envoy Tomas Niklasson said the EU “strongly opposes” the death penalty. He also said: “Public executions are not in accordance with the minimum standards of international law as they are considered degrading and contradictory to human dignity, as per articles 6 and 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”
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The international envoys have also told India, apparently, that being the largest contributor to Afghanistan’s redevelopment in the region with development aid exceeding over $3 billion, New Delhi should effectively compel the Taliban to resume the intra-Afghan dialogue and negotiations between the Taliban and an inclusive negotiating team mostly from the former republic government and the minority communities like the Hazaras, something that featured prominently in the US peace deal.
India, which is cautiously approaching its bilateral ties with Afghanistan, is keen on resuming trade with Afghanistan by leveraging Iran’s Chabahar Port. New Delhi has also started becoming an active participant in the multilateral dialogues and conferences that are hosted by the Taliban. While the government has ensured that it keeps meeting the top leadership of the Taliban, from Amir Khan Muttaqi, Minister of Foreign Affairs, to Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, Deputy Foreign Minister, the Ministry of External Affairs’ readouts have never mentioned the human rights violation taking place in Afghanistan — an issue that has upset the West.
The US, EU and Canada, which continue to host a large Afghan diaspora even as they continue taking in refugees after August 15, 2021, when the Taliban came back to power there. The West has been urging Central Asian countries too to put pressure on the Taliban regime to ensure that Afghanistan does not go back in history, to a time when words such as jihad, terrorism and Afghanistan were interchangeable. The western countries that have been dealing with the Taliban has been consistent on such issues with the fundamentalist group on these issues but it is keen that the neighbouring countries of Afghanistan with whom the Taliban wants to do business take on larger roles before they put in money there.
The recent tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan over the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan have also made the West sit up and take notice. The US has time and again asked the Taliban regime to strictly make sure that Afghanistan does not become a safe haven for terrorists and so it wants the neighbouring countries to apprise the Taliban of counterterrorism measures along with upholding human rights.
[Disclaimer: The opinions, beliefs, and views expressed by the various authors and forum participants on this website are personal and do not reflect the opinions, beliefs, and views of ABP News Network Pvt Ltd.]
West Now Wants India, Central Asian Countries To Push Taliban On Human Rights
8
1
21.03.2024
Now that the NATO troops, led by the United States, have wound up their business from Afghanistan that took place amidst a blood-drenched chaos in Kabul, the western countries now want India and other countries in the region to play a bigger role in terms of pushing the Taliban to act as it had promised under the Doha deal signed with the US in February 2020, with a particular focus on human rights and women’s rights there instead of only maintaining a presence there for the sake of safeguarding their own national security. This week, the United States and Canada special envoys to Afghanistan made a beeline in New Delhi to assess its role in the war-torn country as an immediate neighbour.
Thomas West, US Special Representative to Afghanistan, and David Sproule, Canada’s Special Representative for Afghanistan came to India, undertook a visit to New Delhi to not just understand what is India’s plan for the future when it came to Afghanistan, but to also suggest to the authorities here that India, which is now dealing with the Taliban, on a regular basis even as the Narendra Modi government is keen to activate trade with Kabul via the Chabahar Port. The US, Canada, as well the European Union (EU), are holding closed-door dialogues with the Indian government to direct their efforts into securing guarantees from the Taliban that it acts as Taliban 2.0 as they believe that the Islamist group is increasingly becoming their old self.
From not having an inclusive government, banning education for girls and........
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