India, Pakistan trade barbs at UN assembly over Afghanistan

UNITED NATIONS • Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the United Nations last Saturday that no country should exploit Afghanistan's turmoil for its own advantage, after his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan appealed for nations to work with the Taliban.

Mr Modi's address came after Delhi upbraided Islamabad following a speech from Mr Khan last Friday that accused India of conducting a "reign of terror" on Muslims.

"It is absolutely essential to ensure that Afghanistan's territory is not used to spread terrorism and for terrorist attacks," Mr Modi said. "We also need to be alert and ensure that no country tries to take advantage of the delicate situation there and use it as a tool for its own selfish interests."

Last Friday, Mr Modi raised concerns about Pakistan during talks with United States President Joe Biden as well as at a broader four-way summit that included the leaders of Australia and Japan, according to Indian officials, who said the leaders concurred in the matter.

"There was a clear sense that... a more careful examination and monitoring of Pakistan's role in Afghanistan - Pakistan's role on the issue of terrorism - had to be kept," Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said.

Mr Khan told the United Nations General Assembly that the Taliban had promised to respect human rights and build an inclusive government, despite global disappointment in its caretaker Cabinet.

"If the world community incentivises them, and encourages them to walk this talk, it will be a win-win situation for everyone," he said. "We must strengthen and stabilise the current government, for the sake of the people."

Mr Khan spent much of his speech defending the record of Pakistan, the main supporter of the Taliban's 1996 to 2001 regime that imposed an ultra-austere interpretation of Islam and welcomed Al-Qaeda, which eventually led to the US invasion after the Sept 11 attacks in 2001.

Mr Khan, a longstanding critic of the 20-year US war that Mr Biden ended, blamed imprecise US drone strikes for the flare-up of extremism in Pakistan and pointed to Islamabad's cooperation with US forces. "At least there should have been a word of appreciation. But rather than appreciation, imagine how we feel when we are were blamed for the turn of events in Afghanistan," he said.

US officials have long accused Islamabad's powerful intelligence services of maintaining support for the Taliban.

Mr Biden has yet to speak with Mr Khan, although US Secretary of State Antony Blinken last Thursday met his Pakistani counterpart on the UN sidelines and offered thanks for help in repatriating US citizens from Afghanistan.

In his speech, Mr Khan also accused a world eager for India's billion-plus market of giving Mr Modi "complete impunity".

"The hate-filled Hindutva ideology, propagated by the fascist RSS-BJP regime, has unleashed a reign of fear and violence against India's 200-million-strong Muslim community," he said, referring to Mr Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party and the affiliated Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a century-old Hindu revivalist movement with a paramilitary component.

Under Mr Modi, India has rescinded the statehood of Kashmir, its only Muslim-majority region, pushed through a citizenship law that critics call discriminatory, and witnessed repeated flare-ups of religious violence.

While India often ignores Pakistan's statements castigating it at the UN, a young Indian diplomat responded from the General Assembly floor.

Ms Sneha Dubey, a first secretary at India's UN mission, accused Pakistan of sheltering and glorifying Al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden - who was killed by US special forces in 2011 - in the army city of Abbottabad.

"Pakistan nurtures terrorists in their backyard in the hope that they will only harm their neighbours," she said.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE