Delhi push for 'inclusive' government in Kabul, no terror safe haven

New Delhi: In what is seen as a clear message to the ruling Taliban regime in Kabul and its main backer Pakistan, the participating countries at the NSA-level conference hosted by India on the situation in Afghanistan on Wednesday, that also comprised Russia, Iran and the five Central Asian republics, “emphasised that Afghanistan’s territory should not be used for sheltering, training, planning or financing any terrorist acts” and that the strife-torn nation should “never become a safe haven for global terrorism” while calling for a “collective cooperation against the menace of radicalisation, extremism, separatism and drug trafficking in the region”. In the “Delhi Declaration” adopted at the “Third Regional Security Dialogue on Afghanistan”, national security adviser Ajit Doval, who chaired the meeting, and his counterparts also “stressed the necessity of forming an open and truly inclusive government that represents the will of all the people of Afghanistan and has representation from all sections of their society, including major ethno-political forces in the country,” adding that the “inclusion of all sections of society in the administrative and political structure is imperative for the successful national reconciliation process in the country”. Expressing immense satisfaction, government sources late Wednesday evening said the NSA-level Regional Security Dialogue on Afghanistan held here earlier in the day had “exceeded” India’s expectations and that the NSAs of eight countries -- India, Russia, Iran and five Central Asian republics -- had “easily arrived at a complete consensus” that enabled the issuing of the Delhi Declaration in the afternoon itself. Afghanistan’s other neighbour Tajikistan said the “situation on the Tajik-Afghan border still remained complicated” and that “Afghanistan may face a real humanitarian catastrophe”.