South Block satisfied with Regional Security Dialogue on Afghanistan

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, November 10

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At the end of the first-ever meeting of regional NSAs on Afghanistan hosted here, the South Block’s assessment was that the event exceeded its expectations.

“The NSAs easily arrived at a complete consensus, which enabled us to issue the joint Delhi Declaration. Every delegation was appreciative of the timing of the event and the opportunity to engage in frank and open discussions. Every country got opportunity to put across their views in a forthright manner. This is the only dialogue at the level of NSAs and there was complete unanimity on the need to continue this process and have regular consultations,” said sources here.

They said there was extraordinary degree of convergence on the assessments of the situation in Afghanistan and the principal challenges in Afghanistan and the region.

These included the security situation, heightened risk of terrorism and the impending humanitarian crisis. The NSAs noted the need to provide humanitarian assistance and emphasised that the land and air routes should be made available and no one should impede the process.

The NSAs also reiterated the need to continue regular consultations among regional countries in this format. They also stressed that no one should boycott the process due to bilateral agendas.

Later in the day, NSA Ajit Doval’s bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Russia, Kazakhstan and Iran reflected their “personal chemistry”, they claimed.

Some of the focus issues discussed with Russia were future high level exchanges, defence cooperation and deepening interaction between the NSCs. With Kazakhstan, besides Afghanistan, there were discussions on enhancing connectivity and trading routes between the two countries, and practical steps to be taken in this direction.

During the meeting with Iran, bilateral trade and current state of relations were discussed, besides Afghanistan. Iran having hosted the previous two meetings of this format, discussions on how to carry forward this process also took place.