India cautions against hasty US peace deal with Taliban

TIL Desk/World/United Nations/ As a new round of negotiations between the US and the Taliban is to start in Qatar, India has cautioned against a hasty deal with the terror group that is dictated by a Washington timeline rather than the best interests of Afghanistan.

Speaking at the Security Council on Wednesday, India’s Permanent Representative Syed Akbaruddin also said that shutting down terrorist safe havens in Pakistan must be a precondition for a peace agreement to go forward.

While welcoming the international efforts for ending the Afghanistan civil war, he said: “We see that some may be driven by a sense of an urgency with timelines which are, perhaps, not intrinsic to the needs of the Afghan people.”

He also warned that terrorist organisations cannot be allowed to negotiate from a position strength that is guaranteed to them by the sanctuaries given to them by Pakistan. Akbaruddin, however, diplomatically did not name the US or Pakistan, but his message to them was clear.

“As the way forward is chalked out, we cannot ignore that groups enjoying support and safe havens carry out violent and terrorist activities from across borders,” he said. “They cannot be allowed to negotiate from a place of advantage.”