India Supports Inclusive Peace Process in Afghanistan

Key highlight:-

• This was part of a joint statement issued at the end of the first-ever meeting of the India-Central Asia Dialogue which also saw the participation of Afghanistan in the ministerial level meeting in Samarkand.
• India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj along with the foreign ministers of Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan took part in the meeting.
• Central Asian countries are also members of the China- and Russia-led Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in which India has become a new entrant.
• India described Afghanistan as a “land link” in the region that will help in connectivity among the nations.

 Ministerial meeting calls for Afghan-led, Afghan-owned peace process

• All sides condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and agreed to cooperate in countering terrorism which posed a threat to the people and economies of the world.
• The countries reaffirmed their willingness for cooperation, mutual support, joint solution on relevant issues in order to ensure security, stability and sustainable development.
• The ministers welcomed the participation of Afghanistan in the India-Central Asia Dialogue as an important land link in regional cooperation, transit of goods and energy and expressed support and commitment of Central Asian countries and India to peace, security and stability of Afghanistan.
• India pitched for an inclusive Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process and reconciliation, and assistance in economic reconstruction of Afghanistan through the implementation of joint infrastructure, transit and transport, and energy projects, including regional cooperation and investment projects.
• Sustainable economic growth in Afghanistan by attracting Afghan women to participate in the public life of the country and welcomed the successful holding of forums and conferences on this issue in the countries of Central Asia.
• They also noted the results of the seventh Regional Economic Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan (RECCA VII), held in Ashgabat in November 2017, and expressed willingness to cooperate in preparation for the RECCA VIII meeting in Tashkent in the second half of 2019.
• The participants welcomed the accession of India into the Ashgabat agreement on creating an international transport and transit corridor.

 China’s Concern:-

• China has not announced an official stance on the US troop pullout, but recently Pakistan welcomed the decision to slash US troop numbers calling it “a step towards peace” in war-torn Afghanistan.
• In recent months, China has played a more active role in brokering peace in the region as stability in Afghanistan is critical to its Belt and Road policy of expanding trade links across Asia.
• Beijing has hosted Taliban leaders in an effort to bring the warring sides in Afghanistan to the negotiating table.
• It has been long worried about the effect of instability in Afghanistan on China’s violence-prone far western region of Xinjiang, home to the mostly Muslim Uighur people and where China says it faces a threat from militants.