KABUL (Pajhwok): Ten regional powers have lent their weight to the Taliban’s proposal for a UN conference to help Afghanistan prevent an economic collapse and a looming humanitarian crisis.
Russia, China, Pakistan, India, Iran and five ex- Central Asian nations joined the Taliban’s call for the UN conference to help reconstruct the country at the Moscow meeting on Afghanistan on Wednesday.
CNN reported the participants said the main burden should be borne by the forces whose military contingents have been present in Afghanistan over the past two decades.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying: “Nobody is interested in the complete paralysis of an entire state, which borders, among other things, the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States).”
Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi promised: “Afghanistan will never allow its soil to be used as a base for anyone to threaten the security of another country.”
Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Salam Hanafi, who headed the Taliban delegation, said: “Isolating Afghanistan is in no one’s interests.”
In a joint statement, the participants suggested a collective initiative should be launched to convene a representative international donor conference under the auspices of the UN at the earliest possible.
Thy called for urgent humanitarian and economic assistance to Afghanistan in its reconstruction.
Participants also underlined the need for establishing relations with that country’s authorities “irrespective of the official recognition of the new Afghan government by the international community.”
Additionally, they reiterated respect for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Afghanistan.
They also reaffirmed their commitment to Afghanistan “as a peaceful, indivisible, independent, economically developing state, free of terrorism and drug-related crime and respecting the basic norms in the human rights area.”
Concerned about the activities of proscribed terrorist organisations in Afghanistan, they underlined their willingness to continue to promote security in the country to contribute to regional stability.”
The participating countries urged the current Afghan government to adopt additional measures aimed at improving governance and forming a truly inclusive government, which will properly reflect “the interests of all major ethno-political forces in the country.”
“This will be a fundamental prerequisite for the completion of the national reconciliation process in Afghanistan,” the statement said.
PAN Monitor/mud
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