India voices concern over Taliban gains
New Delhi still hesitant to lay blame on Pakistan
By Apratim Mukarji New Delhi, Aug. 18 India is in close touch with Russia and Central Asian countries over the rapid Taliban advance in northern Afghanistan.
There is deep concern over the apparent Taliban gains over the Northern Alliance which have suddenly pushed the Afghan frontier closer to a host of countries, including India.
At the same time, New Delhi is still hesitant to lay the blame squarely on Pakistan whose counter-espionage outfit Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is now openly involved in the Taliban's military manoeuvres.
Pakistan's involvement is now so brazen that regular para-military and military personnel have been reported fighting alongside the Taliban militia.
India would still not name Pakistan because it apparently continues to set great store by the Prime Ministerial talks (the second within a month's time) that are expected to take place in Durban, South Africa, later this month.
In its first reaction, therefore, to the fast-developing events in Afghanistan, India today called for an end to foreign interference in the civil war-torn country.
Responding to a query, the official spokesman for the External Affairs Ministry said that the military solution which had been attempted in the recent past in Northern Afghanistan through the "active support, collaboration and actual involvement of foreign forces" could be neither successful nor enduring in resolving the Afghan conflict.
Responding to a query, the official spokesman for the External Affairs Ministry said that the military solution which had been attempted in the recent past in Northern Afghanistan through the "active support, collaboration and actual involvement of foreign forces" could be neither successful nor enduring in resolving the Afghan conflict.
"This foreign interference must cease," he said, stopping short of naming Pakistan, already accused formally by Iran for its role in the Taliban's military advance.
The spokesman also condemned the capture of Iranian diplomats who were present in Mazar-i-Sharif when it fell to the Taliban.
"Those who hold these diplomats in captivity and their foreign mentors must ensure that no harm comes to them and they are released immediately," he said, once again not naming Pakistan though referring obliquely to it.
Despite its diplomatic reticence, India is believed to be in touch with other countries with immediately threatened frontiers as there is widespread apprehension of a major regional conflagration of the fundamentalist forces cross the border into Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
The fears of a regional conflict have grown as Pakistan continues to deny its material involvement with the Taliban.