'India Willing To Stand by Afghans': EAM S Jaishankar at UN Meet on Afghanistan

Speaking at a UN meeting, S Jaishankar said that India is monitoring the developments in Afghanistan with concern.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

(Photo: PTI)

India's approach to Afghanistan has always been guided by its historical friendship with its people, and that will continue to be the case, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Monday, 13 September, adding that India was concerned about the situation in Afghanistan.

Speaking at a high-level United Nations (UN) meeting held to discuss the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, a nation which was recently taken over by militant organisation Taliban, Jaishankar said that India is willing to help the Afghan people.

"Today, I wish to underline that in the face of a grave emerging situation India is willing to stand by the Afghan people, just as in the past. To ensure that this happened speedily and effectively, we believe that the international community must come together to create the best possible enabling environment."

External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar

Jaishankar noted that India has invested more than $3 billion in about 500 developmental projects spanning across all the 34 provinces of Afghanistan.

'India Monitoring Developments in Afghanistan With Concern': Jaishankar

Speaking at the UN meet Jaishankar said:

"Afghanistan is passing through a critical and challenging phase. There has been a sea change in its political, economic, social and security situation, and consequently, in its humanitarian needs. As an immediate neighbour, India's monitoring developments with understandable concern."

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar

"It is therefore essential that humanitarian assistance providers are accorded unimpeded, unrestricted and direct access to Afghanistan. Once relief materials reach that country, the world will naturally expect a non-discriminatory distribution of humanitarian assistance across all sections of the Afghan society," the external affairs minister stated at the UN meeting.

Jaishankar emphasised on the necessity of ensuring safe passage to those who wish to travel to and from Afghanistan, and called for a normalisation of regular commercial operations at the Kabul airport for the uninterrupted flow of relief material.

Only the UN has the capacity to monitor such endeavours and reassure donors, he added.

UN Chief Announces $20 Million Aid for Afghanistan

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Monday announced a $20 million allocation to support humanitarian operations in Afghanistan.

Addressing a global ministerial conference at the UN's European headquarters in Geneva, Guterres said that the people of Afghanistan were in a dire situation.

"After decades of war, suffering and insecurity, they face perhaps their most perilous hour," he was quoted as saying by news agency AFP. "Let us be clear: This conference is not simply about what we will give to the people of Afghanistan. It is about what we owe," Guterres added.

"More than US$1.2 billion dollars in humanitarian and development aid has been announced today by very generous Member States for the Afghanistan humanitarian crisis. This includes funding for the Flash Appeal that we are here to witness and to launch, but also for the regional response," UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said at the meeting.

"The UN and our humanitarian partners, and we have heard from many of them, including national and international NGOs, will now move quickly to turn this funding into food, health care, protection for Afghan children, women and men in need. So naturally we ask you to disburse your pledges as fast as possible."

Martin Griffiths, Head of United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

The conference was seeking to raise the $606 million that humanitarian agencies suggest is urgently required in order to provide immediate aid to millions of Afghans.