New Delhi: The bloc of five emerging countries, known collectively as BRICS, called for an “inclusive intra-Afghan dialogue”, even as they underlined the need to prevent the use of Afghanistan’s territory as a launchpad for terror groups.
The leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa met virtually for the second consecutive year due to COVID-19 restrictions on Thursday. The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the summit as India currently holds the rotating annual chair of the grouping.
While the meeting took place less than a month after the Taliban had retaken Afghanistan, the joint statement expressed concern about developments but did not refer to the insurgent group by name.
Among the five BRICS members, Russia and China have fostered close ties with the Taliban in recent years. Their primary concern has been that terror groups like Daesh and ETIM, which could spread to Central Asia and Xinjiang, should not find fertile ground in the new Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
India has concerns that increased activities of Pakistan-based terror groups in Afghanistan could lead to increased terrorism in Kashmir. India did not have formal contact with the Taliban till the Afghan republic was in existence, which changed last month after the Indian ambassador in Qatar Deepak Mittal met representatives of the Taliban at the latter’s request.
“We underscore the priority of fighting terrorism, including preventing attempts by terrorist organisations to use Afghan territory as terrorist sanctuary and to carry out attacks against other countries, as well as drug trade within Afghanistan,” said the joint statement.
In a separate section, BRICS leaders also committed to combating “terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, including the cross-border movement of terrorists, and terrorism financing networks and safe havens”. The leaders also adopted the BRICS Counter-Terrorism Action.
The BRICS leaders also condemned the terror attack at Hamid Karzai Kabul international airport, claimed by the Islamic State’s Khorasan chapter. The twin bombs went off amidst hundreds of Afghans and foreign nationals desperate to be evacuated after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban.
While not naming any group, BRICS leaders “call for refraining from violence and settling the situation by peaceful means”.
“We stress the need to contribute to fostering an inclusive intra-Afghan dialogue so as to ensure stability, civil peace, law and order in the country,” added the statement.
The Taliban had committed to having an “inclusive” government, but it announced an all-male caretaker government on Tuesday night. The 33-member cabinet has only two Tajiks and one Uzbek, while the rest are from the majority Pashtun community.
The BRICS leaders also underlined the “need to address the humanitarian situation and to uphold human rights, including those of women, children and minorities”.
As mentioned earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin was the only BRICS leader to mention Afghanistan in their public remarks.
Blaming the US, he claimed that the Afghan crisis was a “direct consequence of irresponsible attempts to impose alien values from the outside, the desire to build so-called democratic structures by methods of socio-political engineering, without taking into account either the historical or national characteristics of other peoples, ignoring their traditions”.
While Russia had previously always advocated for the quick withdrawal of US forces, Putin said that Washington has now abandoned Afghanistan to the world community to “disentangle the consequence”.
In his opening remarks, Modi recounted the initiatives taken by India during this year ranging from a collective document on reforming multilateral systems to an agreement on remote sensing constellation.
With cases of COVID-19 soaring again across the world, the joint statement also devoted several paragraphs to many of the sensitive political issues which have arisen from the pandemic.
On the subject of the study of the origin of the coronavirus, the BRICS said that they supported an investigation that was “science-based inclusive of broad expertise, transparent, and timely processes” and “free from politicisation or interference”.
In July, China had rejected the World Health Organisation’s plan for a second phase of its investigation into the origins of the coronavirus, including a further probe into the theory that the virus could have escaped from a Chinese laboratory in Wuhan.
Besides, two of the BRICS members – India and South Africa – had initiated a proposal at the World Trade Organisation last year calling for a temporary waiver of intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines.
In his opening remarks, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa also sought support for the initiative from the other BRICS leaders.
However, the joint statement only said that the leaders “note” the ongoing discussions related to the topic in the Geneva-based multilateral body. “We also stress the importance of science-based, and objective assessment of the safety, and efficacy of vaccines by regulators throughout the world,” it stated.