NEW DELHI, Mar 14:
Seeking to allay concerns here over its growing ties with Pakistan, a “surprised” Afghanistan today asked India to “stay the course” and to ignore what is happening on the periphery.
The war-torn country praised India for being a strong partner all this while and said the foundation of friendship between the two countries is deep.
Expressing “surprise” over India’s concerns, Abdullah Abdullah, Chief Executive Officer of Afghanistan, said, “We expect India to stay the course and be sure that nothing will shake the foundations of good relations and friendly relations of the two countries.”
Afghanistan’s new President Ashraf Ghani had visited Pakistan and met with the political leadership there and also the military chiefs.
Since then, Pakistan Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif and ISI Director General have made two visits to Afghanistan to meet both the political and military leadership in Kabul, raising eyebrows in India.
Afghanistan’s ties with China, Pakistan’s “all weather friend”, has also increased with Beijing playing an active role in the peace talks with Taliban.
“While I understand the concerns here, I was also surprised that the perception has affected the sentiments here. I have heard there is a sea change (in Afghanistan’s stand),” he said addressing group of strategic affairs experts at the Vivekananda International Foundation here.
He said India was pursuing the policy of helping Afghanistan, by assisting Kabul fight the threat of terrorism, radicalisation, to create opportunities for better lives for Afghans, facilitating regional cooperation and democratic process.
He said Kabul is also following the same policy.
“Continue to do your good work. Don’t worry about anything that is happening on the periphery,” he said.
Abdullah admitted that with Pakistan, Kabul has serious challenges. He said talks by Afghanistan’s new Unity Government with Pakistan was to improve relations so that peace prevails in the war-torn country.
He said Pakistan has said that it does not differentiate between good or bad Taliban.
“That is at least a shift of stand. These measures (words) will be tested against the action on the ground,” he said.
Abdullah said the upcoming visit of Afghan President will help the bilateral ties to grow.
He said both countries need to “revitalise” and “reactivate” the 11 Commissions that have been created for cooperation between the two countries.
Talking about the peace process in his country, Abdullah said only “contacts” have been established with Taliban and that talks are “expected to take place in few days time”.
He said China has held few rounds of talks with the Taliban and asked the Islamist militants to hold direct talks with the Afghan Government.
The Chinese have held “three-four” rounds of talks with the Taliban in the past few months, he said.
He said Afghanistan had begun to improve relations with China under the previous president Hamid Karzai, with the idea that Beijing could use its influence over Pakistan to help broker peace talks.
“That idea has been re-energised once the Unity Government came to power,” he said.
China has close ties with Pakistan, which is believed to harbour Taliban’s top leaders and which has considerable control over the group.
Asked whether ISIS poses a threat to Afghanistan, he said not at present, but it needs to be watched.
He said Taliban and ISIS are two different entities and there is no institutional linkages.
Some Taliban leaders have declared their allegiance. But we are also watching them closely to stop them from developing, he said. (PTI)
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