UNITED NATIONS, Dec 11— India told the UN Security Council that the international community must adopt a more “pragmatic engagement” with the Taliban, arguing that relying only on punitive measures has failed to shift ground realities in Afghanistan.
“India calls for a pragmatic engagement with the Taliban,” India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish, said at the Council’s briefing on the Situation in Afghanistan. “A coherent policy of engagement should incentivise positive actions. A focus on only punitive measures will only ensure that a ‘business as usual’ approach continues as we have been seeing now for the last four and a half years.”
Harish said India’s recent decision to restore its technical mission in Kabul to full embassy status “underscores this resolve.” He reiterated New Delhi’s commitment to development and humanitarian work, saying, “We will continue our engagements with all stakeholders to augment our contribution to Afghanistan’s comprehensive development, humanitarian assistance and capacity-building initiatives.”
The remarks come after Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi visited New Delhi in October — the first senior Taliban official to travel to India since the group seized power in 2021. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar announced then that India would upgrade its Kabul mission and revive development projects.
India had withdrawn its diplomats after the Taliban takeover in August 2021, later returning a technical team to Kabul in June 2022.
Harish told the Council that India is closely monitoring Afghanistan’s security environment and stressed coordinated global action to ensure UN-designated terror groups — including ISIL, Al-Qaida, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and their affiliates — do not continue cross-border operations. His comments were seen as an indirect reference to Pakistan.
India echoed UNAMA’s alarm over airstrikes that killed women, children and cricketers. Harish also condemned what he called “trade and transit terrorism” — the shutting of access routes for a landlocked nation — describing it as a violation of WTO norms, the UN Charter and international law.
“While we condemn such acts, we also strongly support the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Afghanistan,” he said.
Harish said India has more than 500 development partnership projects across Afghanistan and will deepen cooperation in healthcare, public infrastructure and capacity-building. He added that recent talks with Afghan Minister of Industry and Commerce Alhaj Nooruddin Azizi advanced discussions on connectivity, trade facilitation and market access.
