SAARC meeting cancelled over Pakistan's demand on allowing Taliban to represent Afghanistan

The annual conclave of the SAARC Foreign Ministers on the sideline of the United Nations General Assembly in New York has been called off, as India and other members of the eight-nation bloc turned down Pakistan’s demand to allow an official of the Taliban government in Kabul to represent Afghanistan in the meeting.

The Foreign Ministers of the SAARC were expected to meet on the sideline of the 76th session of the UNGA in New York on September 25 next. But Nepal, which holds the presidency of the SAARC, informed the secretariat of the regional organisation that the meeting would not take place due to lack of concurrence among the members.

A source in New Delhi said that the meeting had to be called off as Pakistan had been insisting on allowing the Taliban government in Kabul to represent Afghanistan.

The Taliban returned to power in Kabul last month through a swift military campaign across Afghanistan, taking advantage of the withdrawal of troops by the US and its NATO allies. The militant organisation on September 8 announced an interim government in Afghanistan, with hardly any representation of the ethnic communities other than the Pashtun. It also had no representation of women or religious minorities of Afghanistan.

Read | India, France express 'grave concern' over Afghanistan

Prime Minister Narendra Modi last Friday said that the new regime in Afghanistan was not inclusive, had not been installed through negotiation and hence lacked legitimacy. He also urged the global community to tread cautiously on recognising the new regime in Afghanistan.

No other nation had so far recognised the government installed by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Not only India, but all other SAARC nations too turned down Pakistan’s call for allowing an official of the Taliban government to attend the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the bloc in New York as a representative of Afghanistan.

The SAARC Foreign Ministers have been holding meetings on the sidelines of the UNGA sessions in the past, although the regional organisation remained caught in a stalemate since 2016.

Though a meeting was planned this year too, the differences emerged over representation of Afghanistan – one of the members of the organisation. The member nations had agreed that the chair of the Foreign Minister of Afghanistan would remain vacant during the meeting. But Pakistan of late started demanding that a Taliban government official must be allowed to represent Afghanistan. India and the other SAARC nations strongly rejected the demand of Pakistan, leading to the cancellation of the meeting.

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