Taliban has indicated, will find appropriate solution to India’s concerns : Foreign Secretary

Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla has said that India’s ties with the Taliban have been limited and the Taliban has indicated that it will appropriately address India’s concerns. Shringla said that our engagement with them (Taliban) has been limited. It’s not like we’ve had a lot of talks, but whatever we’ve had so far, the Taliban have indicated that it will handle everything appropriately.
On the meeting in Doha between Indian Ambassador Deepak Mittal and the head of the Taliban’s political office, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, he said that India had told the Taliban that it wanted them to know that there was no such terrorist activity from their territory. There should be, whose target is India. “We have made it clear in our statement that we have told them that we want them to be aware of the fact that there should not be any terrorist activity from their territory that targets India or other countries,” the foreign secretary said. We want them to be mindful of the condition of women and minorities etc and I think they have given assurance on their part as well.
Shringla said Islamabad has “supported and nurtured” the Taliban on Pakistan’s role. He said that Pakistan, a neighbor of Afghanistan, has supported and nurtured the Taliban. There are many elements that support Pakistan – so its role should be seen in that context. He also said that the US is watching the situation in Afghanistan very closely. They will clearly see how different sides connect to the situation in Afghanistan.
Asked what would be India’s policy to head the UN 1988 Sanctions Committee or the Taliban Sanctions Committee, Shringla said, “Two things stand out, the first being the expansion of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) mandate.” And second, the issue of being removed from the list of the 1988 Taliban Sanctions Committee, which we chair, and we have to work on that.
He said, in other words, our stand is ‘wait and watch’, we have to see how the situation on the ground develops. I mean are we going to act immediately, I don’t think so; Are we going to improve our decisions according to what happens? Don’t forget that we are one of 15 members and we also have to look at what the rest of the international community is saying, and this is based on consensus at the UNSC.
Asked whether India would support the resistance in Panjshir province, and whether India is doing anything about it, the foreign secretary said the situation in Afghanistan is so volatile that it is difficult to comment on anything at this point in time. “It is a very difficult situation on which we can say anything, whether it is related to what is happening on the ground, or with respect to claims and counterclaims,” he said. We are not on the land there, we have no assets there, we have to sit back and assess how things progress.