UNITED NATIONS: India has said that the current UN sanctions regime must take into account the changed political reality in Afghanistan and called for incentivising positive actions rather than relying solely on punitive measures.
“We reiterate the importance of incentivising positive actions. The political reality of Afghanistan has changed in the last five years, and the current UN sanctions regime must take that into account,” India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Harish Parvathaneni, said.
Addressing a UN Security Council meeting on the situation in Afghanistan on Monday, Parvathaneni said the UN and the international community need policy instruments that aim to benefit the Afghan people and “nudge policy in the right direction rather than only wielding tools of punishment that are yielding diminishing returns.”
Several leaders of the Taliban, which took control of Kabul in August 2021, are listed under the 1988 Taliban Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council.
In October last year, the committee approved an exemption to the travel ban imposed on Taliban leader and acting Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, who later visited India.
He added that the history of close cooperation between India and Afghanistan continues to guide their modern-day relationship.
“The proud people of Afghanistan have endured much in this century, and the Government of India will continue to stand for peace and stability in order to foster development in the country,” he said.
He also noted that India’s capacity-building and humanitarian assistance initiatives for the Afghan people are present in all 34 provinces and across more than 500 development partnership projects.
“Visits to India by Afghan ministers last year have ensured necessary planning and coordination so that our support reaches the intended beneficiaries. Generations of Afghans, having suffered years of active hostility, are now suffering neglect from the international community,” he said.