Afghanistan seeks India’s support for Taliban reconciliation
July 14th, 2011 - 8:29 pm ICT by IANS
New Delhi, July 14 (IANS) India Thursday conveyed its “unstinted support” for the progress of Afghanistan as the country’s former president, Burhanuddin Rabbani, sought New Delhi’s support for the ongoing reconciliation process with the Taliban.
Rabbani, head of the Afghan government’s peace council negotiating with Taliban, held delegation-level talks with External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and updated him on the ongoing efforts to accommodate a section of the so-called moderate Taliban.
Rabbani also briefed Krishna on the security situation in his country which has become more precarious recently.
“India is an important country in the region and we want its cooperation in peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan,” Rabbani told reporters.
According to some reports, the peace council members had recently met members of the Quetta Shura in Abu Dhabi and are holding talks with influential Taliban leaders.
Afghanistan is keen to learn from India’s experience in reconciliation and peace efforts it has used in its in northeast, said informed sources. They see India as a model multi-cultural plurialistic society, said sources.
Krishna voiced India’s apprehensions about the Taliban reconciliation plan and stressed that it should be Afghan-led, the sources said.
India has made it clear that it is ready to accept a peace deal in which only those Taliban who are ready to sever links with the Taliban-Al Qaeda, to renounce violence and accept the Afghan constitution are sought to be accommodated in a future dispensation.
Krishna underscored India’s growing stakes in peace and stability of Afghanistan, for whose reconstruction it has pledged $2 billion.
“As your neighbour, friend and well-wisher, we would like to see peaceful, stable and prosperous Afghanistan in which all sections of the society, regardless of gender or ethnicity, can work shoulder to shoulder to secure a bright future for the country,” Krishna, with Rabbani at his side, told reporters before their talks began.
“In your quest for progress, economic development and social harmony, you can always count on India’s unstinted support,” he said.
The two sides also discussed the safety of over 4,000 Indians working on a range of reconstruction projects in Afghanistan.
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Tags: abu dhabi, afghan government, apprehensions, bright future, burhanuddin rabbani, council members, dispensation, external affairs minister, former president, july 14, krishna, New Delhi, peace and reconciliation, peace and stability, peace council, peace deal, peace efforts, security situation, shura, taliban