India asks world community to remain engaged in Afghanistan

United Nations, July 1 (PTI) India has told the UN
that the international community should remain engaged in
Afghanistan for security and stability, as any development in
the war-ravaged country would have an "impact" on it.
"The security of Afghanistan and what happens there
impacts us, as a country in the region, as a close neighbour
and a civilisational partner whose ties with the Afghan people
stretch into antiquity," Permanent Representative to the UN,
Hardeep Singh Puri, told the Security Council on Wednesday.
Puri said this in his address to the Security Council
during an open debate on Afghanistan.
"A stable and settled Afghanistan, where the rank and
file of the Taliban has given up violence against the
government, and the people, cut all links with terrorism,
subscribe to the values of the Afghan Constitution and its
laws, and where development is the hard rationale, is what we
seek and quest for," he said.
It is important also that for such a structure to be
durable and enduring, Afghanistan's neighbours, and regional
partners, will need to be in the picture - both by
consultation and by adherence to the principle of
non-interference in the country's affairs, ensuring that it
thrives as a trade and transit hub for the region, and by
eradicating transnational terrorism, Puri said.
Noting that the international community as a whole has
made a great contribution in assisting Afghanistan to stand on
its feet, Puri said: "For lasting peace and stability in
Afghanistan, it is critical that the international community
remains engaged in Afghanistan both on the security side as
well as on development and capacity building efforts."
The Permanent Representative to the UN said India
supports the efforts of the Afghan Government to reintegrate
those individuals who are willing to abjure violence, do not
have ties with terrorist groups, and are willing to abide by
the values of democracy, pluralism and human rights as
enshrined in the Afghan Constitution.
"The process must be inclusive and transparent," he
argued.
Puri noted that an overall deterioration in the
security environment underscores the significant challenges
that confront Afghanistan.
The latest report of the UN Secretary General on
Afghanistan, he said notes that there has been a 94 per cent
increase in incidents involving IEDs during the first four
months of 2010, a 45 per cent rise in killings of civilians by
insurgents, and an increase in complex suicide attacks. PTI