‘Elected representatives should lead Afghanistan peace settlement’: India

United Nations: India has issued a note of caution for the United States peace efforts in Afghanistan with the Taliban saying that the elected representatives should be the main voice in deciding the nation’s future.

Any solution should have “constitutional legitimacy and a political mandate” and “not leave ungoverned spaces for terrorists and their proxies to exploit,” Indian diplomat Vidhisha Maitra said on Wednesday.

“In any country, it is the people of that country and the elected representatives of that country who should have the leading voice in deciding their future (and) this has always been one of India’s guiding principles in its engagement with Afghanistan,” Maitra, a first secretary in India’s UN Mission, told the General Assembly during the debate on Afghanistan.

“While the international community must be united in supporting these efforts, we do not believe in advancing prescriptions,” she added.

At the same time, she said that India did welcome “the opportunities created by the various initiatives towards a formal peace process at the international, regional and domestic levels”.

The US is trying to make a peace deal with the Taliban so its troops can be withdrawn from Afghanistan to keep President Donald Trump’s election promise.

The negotiations led by US Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad have been an on-again, off-again process.

The Taliban has refused to talk to the elected government of Afghanistan, which has expressed concern it would be undercut by a US-Taliban deal.

US Alternate UN Representative Cherith Norman-Chalet said that Washington sought a durable peace through a political settlement in which Kabul would play its rightful role.

The US was committed to Afghanistan’s security and to ensuring that terrorists don’t exploit its territory.

Maitra listed the Taliban among the terrorist groups enjoying sanctuaries in Pakistan and operating abroad. (IANS)

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