As China hosts Taliban, India, US say Afghanistan will be pariah if militants grab power by force

Even as the Chinese Government hosted a delegation of the Taliban, India and the United States on Wednesday underlined that if the Sunni Muslim militants went on to occupy power in Afghanistan through violent means, it would not be recognized by the rest of the international community.

“An Afghanistan that does not respect the rights of its people, an Afghanistan that commits atrocities against its own people would become a pariah state,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told journalists in New Delhi. He said that the reports of the Taliban’s military offensives and advances in Afghanistan and its atrocities on people of the country were “deeply troubling” and certainly did “not speak well for their intention for the country”.

The Taliban’s military offensive in Afghanistan was high on the agenda of Blinken’s meeting with his counterpart in New Delhi, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, as well as National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Wednesday.

“The peace negotiation (between the Afghan Government and the Taliban) should be a negotiation and should lead to cessation of violence and peace,” Jaishankar said during the joint news conference with Blinken. “We don’t think the outcome should be decided by force on the battlefield.”

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Jaishankar and Blinken exchanged views on Afghanistan, even as the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi hosted a delegation of Taliban led by its political head Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.

Blinken said that the US would continue to support Afghanistan through development and security assistance even after the withdrawal of troops.

The Taliban took control of a large number of districts in Afghanistan over the past few weeks as the US and its NATO allies continued to withdraw troops, leaving it to the Afghan National Security and Defence Force to fight the militants. India is worried over the “strategic depth” Pakistan would gain in Afghanistan if the war-torn country again goes under the control of Taliban.

New Delhi, however, reached out and engaged with some sections of the Taliban, even as it underlined that if the militants took control of Afghanistan through violence, it would lack legitimacy.

“The world wishes to see an independent, sovereign, democratic and stable Afghanistan at peace with itself and with its neighbours but its independence and sovereignty will only be ensured if it is free from malign influences,” Jaishankar said, taking a dig at Pakistan, which was accused by President Ashraf Ghani’s government in Kabul of sabotaging the peace-process and supporting the military offensive by tje Taliban. “Similarly, the External Affairs Minister added, “unilateral imposition of will by any party will obviously not be democratic and can never lead to stability nor indeed can such efforts ever acquire legitimacy.”