India’s envoy to the U.N. has said that the overall objective of the global community in Afghanistan aligns with New Delhi’s priorities in the war-torn nation, including the need to combat terrorism.

India’s Permanent Representative to the U.N., Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj, told the U.N. Security Council meeting on Afghanistan on March 6 that New Delhi pays close attention to the situation in the country, “which has a direct impact on us”.

“Our objective is to establish long-term peace, security and stability” in Afghanistan, Ms. Kamboj said, as she told the top organ of the United Nations that India participated actively in the recent meeting of special envoys on Afghanistan held in Qatar.

“The overall objective of the vast majority of the international community aligns with India’s priorities with respect to Afghanistan,” she said.

“These include the need to counter terrorism, bring in inclusive governance, safeguard the rights and interests of women, children and minorities, counter-narcotics and the prioritisation of humanitarian assistance for the well-being of the people of the country,” she said.

On February 18 and 19, Qatar hosted the second meeting of Special Envoys on Afghanistan in Doha, which was attended by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and participants from countries including India, Canada, China, France, and Germany.

Iran, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, the United Arab Emirates, the U.K. and the U.S. also participated in the meeting.

Thanking Qatar for hosting the meeting, Ms. Kamboj said, “India participated actively in this meeting.” She noted that there were “constructive discussions” on the recommendations of the report by Special Coordinator Ambassador Feridun Sinirlioglu, including the appointment of a Special Envoy of the Secretary-General and the establishment of an international contact group for Afghanistan.

“There was a general consensus that the international community has to move forward on these issues in a consultative and transparent manner,” Ms. Kamboj said.

Among the organisations attending the meeting were the European Union, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

Mr. Guterres, who had described the Doha meeting as “extremely productive”, had spoken to reporters about the “total consensus” about the programmatic proposals included in Sinirlioglu’s independent review that covered all the main areas of concern of both the international community and the Taliban, the de facto authorities of Afghanistan.

These included the need to ensure that Afghanistan does not become the “hotbed of terrorist activities that impact other countries,” Mr. Guterres had said.

He pointed out that among the recommendations of the review was the creation of a contact group.

On the international contact group, Ms. Kamboj said India firmly believes that the group has a “much better chance of being effective and will gain legitimacy if it comprises all key stakeholders who have direct stakes in the situation in Afghanistan.

“This would also be the general position of anyone who has any interest in ensuring peace and stability in Afghanistan,” she said.

The Doha meeting did not have participation from the Taliban.

Mr. Guterres had told reporters that he had received a letter from the de facto authorities “with a set of conditions” to be present in the meeting “that were not acceptable”.

Ms. Kamboj described the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan as “dire” and said it is important that the international community not lose its focus on Afghanistan and its people and steps up with humanitarian assistance.

She highlighted that India’s own assistance to Afghanistan over the past two years has primarily focused on three pillars: food security, medical supplies, and education.

India has provided 50,000 tonnes of wheat, continued its scholarship schemes for Afghan students, providing online educational opportunities to 1,000 Afghan students, including 300 women in the current academic year as well as provided life-saving medicines to different hospitals in Afghanistan and assisted the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime in the fight against drugs.

Jagpreet Kaur. File
| Photo Credit: Photo Credit: X/@JagKaur_IFS

India has slammed Pakistan as it raised the issue of Jammu and Kashmir at the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council, saying it should introspect on its own appalling human rights record and “deserved global reputation” as the “world’s terrorism factory”.

Under Secretary in India’s Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva Jagpreet Kaur exercised the country’s Right of Reply at the General debate at the 55th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council on Monday after Pakistan, speaking on behalf of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), raked the issue of Jammu and Kashmir in its statement.

“We have taken the floor previously during this Session and conveyed our disinclination to waste the Council’s time in responding to fallacious comments about India, by one particular delegation, which does so as they do not have anything constructive to contribute,” Ms. Kaur said on March 4.

Without naming Pakistan, Ms. Kaur said it is unfortunate that “this country continues with its diatribe against India, including by continuing to misuse the OIC’s platform to further their own politically motivated agenda.

“We do not wish to dignify such remarks by responding to them and are taking the floor again only to urge that delegation to introspect on their own appalling human rights record and their deserved global reputation as the world’s terrorism factory,” Ms. Kaur said.

Last week, in a strong retort to Pakistan, India had said in the Council that the country is soaked in the red of the bloodshed from the terrorism that it sponsors around the world as First Secretary in the Permanent Mission of India to the UN in Geneva Anupama Singh had exercised India’s Right of Reply at the high-level segment of the 55th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council.

Coming down heavily on Pakistan, India said that “we cannot pay any further attention to a country that speaks while being soaked in red — the red of the bloodshed from the terrorism it sponsors around the world; the red of its debt-riddled national balance sheets; and the red of the shame its own people feel for their government having failed to serve their actual interests.”

She said a country that hosts and even celebrates UN Security Council-sanctioned terrorists, “commenting on India whose pluralistic ethos and democratic credentials are exemplars for the world, is a contrast for everyone to see.” Hitting out at Pakistan for the “extensive references” to India, Mr. Singh had said it is deeply unfortunate for the Council’s platform to have once again been misused to make patently false allegations against India.