India has convened a high-level meeting of regional countries over the situation in Afghanistan on 10th November. The meeting called the Regional Security Dialogue on Afghanistan will be held in New Delhi. The NSA level meeting will be chaired by NSA Ajit Doval. The National Security Advisors of India, Russia, Iran and central Asian countries will be attending the conference. India has also invited Pakistan and China for the meeting. However, there has been no official response yet from the two nations. Although, Pakistan has indicated through the media that it will not attend. Highly placed sources told AIR that Pakistan’s decision is unfortunate, but not surprising and it reflects its mindset of viewing Afghanistan as its protectorate.
Ahead of the meeting, the Deputy spokesman for the Taliban told in Kabul on Saturday that the people of Afghanistan welcome all the summits that aim to help Afghanistan. According to local media reports from Kabul, he said that the rights of the people of Afghanistan should be ensured. The Regional Security Dialogue assumes significance in the sense that the participating nations are looking at ways and means to ensure an inclusive and stable Afghanistan and address the humanitarian concerns there.
This is the first time all Central Asian countries, not just Afghanistan’s immediate land neighbors, are participating in this format. The enthusiastic response is recognition of the importance attached to India’s role to promote peace and security in Afghanistan.
The high-level participation in the next week’s meeting hosted by India reflects the widespread and growing concern of regional countries about the situation in Afghanistan and their desire to consult and coordinate with each other. India has an important role to play in this process.
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