(BNA):\u00a0 The situation in Afghanistan is of deep concern to all members of the UN Security Council, President of the Council for the month of August Ambassador T S Tirumurti has said, underlining that \u201cwe cannot have terrorist camps\u201d once again moving back into the war-torn country that will have a \u201cdirect impact\u201d on India. In response to a question on a large number of women\u2019s rights supporters and faith leaders calling on the Security Council to authorize a peacekeeping force for Afghanistan under the Women, Peace and Security Resolution and whether this is an idea that India supports, Tirumurti said at this point of time \u201cwe are looking at how the talks shape up. \u201cAt this point of time, we are hoping that the peace talks will yield results and we are also hoping that there will be no military solution and people are not going to have a military solution to this. India, currently a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the 2021-22 tenure, assumed the rotating Presidency of the powerful UN organ for the month of August. \u201cThe situation in Afghanistan is of deep concern to all members of the Security Council and we have seen that in recent days, the violence is only increasing,\u201d Tirumurti said at the UN Headquarters on Monday. Briefing reporters at the UN Headquarters on the Council\u2019s Program of Work, Tirumurti, who is India\u2019s Permanent Representative to the UN, cited a UN report that said the number of casualties in Afghanistan during May-June exceeds the number between January and April. Responding to a question on the situation in Afghanistan and what the Security Council can do to prevent further escalation in violence, Tirumurti said he expects that \u201cprobably the Security Council will be looking at this aspect sooner rather than later\u201d on Afghanistan. As far as India is concerned, he said New Delhi has mentioned very clearly that \u201cwe want to see an independent, peaceful, democratic and a stable Afghanistan. India has supported every opportunity that can bring peace, security and stability in Afghanistan.\u201d\u201cWe are convinced that\u2026 we should address the question of violence and the targeted attacks and these are very serious concerns and all violence must come to an end. Ties with international terrorism should also be cut. We cannot have terrorist camps once again going back into Afghanistan. And this will have a direct impact on India,\u201d Tirumurti said. Noting with concern that targeted killings are increasing and women, girls and minorities are being systematically targeted, Tirumurti stressed that a lasting political settlement through an inclusive Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled process is extremely important. Noting with concern that targeted killings are increasing and women, girls and minorities are being systematically targeted, Tirumurti stressed that a lasting political settlement through an inclusive Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled process is extremely important. He underlined that it is also \u201cimportant for us to protect the gains which we have had in the last nearly 20 years,\u201d adding that aspirations of the Afghan women, youth and minorities must be respected. \u201cThey need a safe and a democratic future. I think this is where we believe that any government that comes to power in Afghanistan has to be seen as legitimate in the eyes of the people. So consequently, we cannot have the unilateral imposition of will by any party. Peaceful negotiation should be taken seriously by all the parties. The dialogue, which they are having, there is a need for that to be accelerated,\u201d Tirumurti said. He further noted that these are concerns, which are common to all the members of the Security Council. \u201cWe have supported a leading role for the UN since it will definitely help in a lasting and durable outcome to the discussions which are going on.\u201d Tirumurti said durable peace in Afghanistan is important because the security and stability of Afghanistan have \u201cdirect implications on the region itself.\u201d Underscoring that durable peace requires a \u201cgenuine double peace\u201d \u2014 peace within and around Afghanistan, Tirumurti expressed hope that whenever \u201cwe start looking at this in the Security Council, which I expect sooner rather than later, that we will look into all these aspects and see how best to support the peace talks which are going on.\u201d \u201cI think it\u2019s extremely important for us to have legitimacy to anyone who comes into power. And so we don\u2019t want a unilateral imposition of will by any particular party on Afghanistan. That is where the focus has been right now. I don\u2019t think we have quite come to the idea of a peacekeeping force in Afghanistan.\u201d Whether the US withdrawal from Afghanistan was a timely and good idea, Tirumurti said he would not comment on a country\u2019s sovereign decision. \u201cIt is the prerogative of the United States to decide what they want to do and they have taken a decision. And I think it is important for us as a Security Council to ensure that we jointly support Afghanistan in bringing a democratic and a stable society, which will respect women and minorities,\u201d he said. The US has already pulled back the majority of its forces from Afghanistan and is looking to complete the drawdown by August 31, ending nearly two-decade of its military presence in the country. Tirumurti added that there is a \u201crequirement for a certain legitimacy\u201d for the people who come to power. \u201cThat is important for everyone, not just every member of the Security Council, but for all the neighbours or the regional countries and for all the others.\u201d He stressed that \u201cyou cannot get this legitimacy through unilateral actions.\u201d He said the question of a peacekeeping force in Afghanistan down the line has not been formally raised. Tirumurti said that in discussions with the Secretary-General and other top UN officials, \u201ctheir main concern is the safety and security of the UN mission there,\u201d especially after the recent attack on the UN\u2019s main compound in Herat, Afghanistan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(BNA):\u00a0 The situation in Afghanistan is of deep concern to all members of the UN Security Council, President of the Council for the month of August Ambassador T S Tirumurti has said, underlining that \u201cwe cannot have terrorist camps\u201d once again moving back into the war-torn country that will have a \u201cdirect impact\u201d on India. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archived-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/caps.af\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/caps.af\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/caps.af\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caps.af\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caps.af\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3626"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/caps.af\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3626\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3627,"href":"https:\/\/caps.af\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3626\/revisions\/3627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/caps.af\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caps.af\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caps.af\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}