Afghanistan welcomes India's remarks at 'Heart of Asia' conference, says 'we're grateful'

Afghanistan welcomed the remarks made by External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar during the ‘Heart of Asia’ conference in Dushanbe on March 31. Addressing the foreign ministers in Afghanistan, in a veiled reference to Pakistan’s continued backing of regional terrorism and non-state actors, EAM said on Tuesday “For a durable peace in Afghanistan, what we need is a genuine 'double peace', that is, peace within Afghanistan and peace around Afghanistan." Following Jaishankar’s statements, the Afghan envoy to India Farid Mamundzay backed India’s position and called for support of non-state actors to cease. 

Mamundzay told ANI, “Till terror support continues from within the region of beyond region the conflict will continue, we have been suffering our people are suffering because of foreign fighters, Afghans have suffered the most, it's not a civil war in Afghanistan, it's international terrorism and that has caused a lot of misery and lot of blood, so wherever it is coming from we want all those non-state actors to stop killing Afghans and destabilising Afghanistan.”

Afghanistan welcoming India’s stance on regional terrorism came after the foreign minister of the middle east nation Mohammed Hanif Atmar while visiting New Delhi called for India to be a part of all forum where peace in Afghanistan is up for discussion because it has huge stakes in the development of the war-torn country. The security measures in Afghanistan have a direct impact on India and New Delhi also echoed its support for an immediate ceasefire in Kabul. 

Afghanistan envoy to India said, "Troika echoed the opinion of international community produced a very good statement that level of violence should be dropped, this is a very principle position from India, it is a very strategic partner, it is the largest contributor to development in Afghanistan, it has stakes in Afghanistan, India wants peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan, we are grateful India is supporting the position of the Afghan government, violence has to be stopped, violence has to dropped in weeks and months ahead."

Jaishankar to visit Kabul ‘soon’

ANI reported citing diplomatic sources that the External Affairs Minister is expected to make a visit to Kabul ‘soon’ after Atmar invited Jaishankar to Afghanistan during the official’s visit to India. However, the dates are still being finalised. A per the report, when asked about EAM’s proposed Kabul visit, Mamundzay said, “No dates are finalised, we are working on it, we expect senior leadership to visit Afghanistan soon."

Image credits: PTI/ANI