Top national security officials from India, Russia, Iran and five Central Asian countries, at the Delhi Security Dialogue on Afghanistan, have called for an open and inclusive government in Kabul and emphasised that the country’s territory should not be used to support terrorist acts.

The meeting, chaired by India’s National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval, was attended by Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Shamkhani, Russia’s Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, and the security council heads of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. China and Pakistan did not attend the meet, which was the third such dialogue on Afghanistan.

“They (the national security officials) 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 ethnopolitical forces in the country. Inclusion of all sections of the society in the administrative and political structure is imperative for the successful national reconciliation process in the country,” as per the Delhi Declaration on Afghanistan announced at the end of the dialogue on Wednesday.

Fighting terrorism

The officials also condemned all terrorist activities and reaffirmed their commitment to combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, including its financing, the dismantling of terrorist infrastructure and countering radicalisation, to ensure that Afghanistan would never become a haven for global terrorism.

Afghanistan is going through a large scale political, economic and humanitarian crisis following after the Taliban seized power in August 2021.

“We all have been keenly watching the developments in that country. These have important implications not only for the people of Afghanistan but also for its neighbours and the region. This is the time for close consultation amongst us, greater cooperation and interaction and coordination among the regional countries,” Doval said in his opening remarks.

Officials attending the dialogue expressed concern over the deteriorating socio-economic and humanitarian situation in Afghanistan and underlined the need to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan.

“They (officials) reiterated that humanitarian assistance should be provided in an unimpeded, direct and assured manner to Afghanistan and that the assistance is distributed within the country in a non-discriminatory manner across all sections of the Afghan society,” the Declaration added.

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