India on Thursday slammed Pakistan for playing spoilsport by refusing to attend a conclave here on Wednesday to discuss the situation in Afghanistan.
The conclave of the National Security Advisors (NSA) issued a Delhi Declaration urging that Afghan soil should not be used for spreading international terrorism and radicalisation. Eight countries, including India, took part in the meet. The other countries were Russia, Iran and five Central Asian countries which share the border with Afghanistan.
India had invited Pakistan also but it declined to come on the pretext that New Delhi had not invited the Taliban. Iran had held such conclave in 2018 and 2019 but Pakistan did not attend. China, which attended the two earlier events, did not participate in Delhi conclave claiming “scheduling issues.” It, is however, taking part in a parallel conclave on Afghanistan on Thursday in Islamabad besides the US and Russia.
As regards Pakistan’s non-participation here, ministry of external affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi highlighted that India has been extending support to Afghanistan for many years but the situation on the ground has become “very difficult” over the last few months.
He criticised Pakistan’s decision to not attend Delhi Regional Security Dialogue on Afghanistan, saying it shows Islamabad’s attitude regarding the crisis in the war-torn country.
In an apparent reference to Pakistan, he said there have been difficulties in providing humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan due to a lack of unimpeded access.
He highlighted that India has been extending support to Afghanistan for many years but the situation on the ground has become “very difficult” over the last few months. Pakistan has ,so far, denied India to send food to Afghan through road from Attari.
“One of the key elements which we’ve seen in previous meetings was the need for unimpeded, unhindered access for humanitarian assistance providers...There have been difficulties due to lack of unimpeded access,” Bagchi added.
He said that the “very serious humanitarian situation” in Afghanistan was discussed at length during the meeting of NSAs of eight regional countries, including India, Russia, and Iran.