Mains- GS-2-International Relations
6+2+1
1. The United Nations Secretariat held a meeting of the “6+2+1” group on regional efforts to support peace in Afghanistan
2. This group includes six neighboring countries: China, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, global players - United States and Russia, and Afghanistan.
3. India was absent despite its historical and strategic ties with Afghanistan.
Previous engagements
1. In 2020, India was kept out of regional discussions on Afghanistan citing India has no boundary with Afghanistan.
2. But it could also be because India never announced its support for the U.S.-Taliban peace process.
3. In 2011, India signed the historic Strategic Partnership Agreement, which was Afghanistan’s first such agreement with any country.
India’s stand
1. India has resisted public engagement with the Taliban on peace talks.
2. India regards only an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned, and Afghan-controlled process as a principled one, which is not the current case in the reconciliation process.
3. The U.S.-Taliban peace deal will make the Taliban become more potent as the U.S. withdraws soldiers from Afganistan.
4. Taliban will gain more hold in the inter-Afghan process as the U.S. withdraws funding for the Afganistan government.
Challenges for India
1. India’s decision to rely on Afganistan has reduced its voice in the reconciliation process
2. It has weakened India’s position with other leaders of the divided democratic setup in Afganistan.
3. India’s presence inside Afghanistan built up since 2001, is being threatened by terror groups believed to be backed by Pakistan’s establishment.
India’s assistance
1. India helps in infrastructure projects, health care, education, trade and food security, and also in the liberal access to Afghans to study, train and work in India.
2. It includes more than $3 billion in projects, trade of about $1 billion, a $20 billion projected development expenditure of an alternate route through Chabahar
3. India also extends support to the Afghan National Army, bureaucrats, doctors and other professionals for training in India
4. It is involved in 3 major projects - the Afghan Parliament, the Zaranj-Delaram Highway, and the Afghanistan-India Friendship Dam (Salma dam)
5. Other small development projects (of schools, hospitals and water projects) have strengthened India’s position in the public of Afghanistan nationwide.
Way forward
1. India can use the United Nations’s call for a pause in conflicts during the novel coronavirus pandemic
2. India needs to appoint a special envoy to deal with its efforts in Afghanistan.
Source: The Hindu