Indian officials on Friday slammed Islamabad over the reported refusal of Pakistani National Security Adviser (NSA) Moeed Yusuf to attend an upcoming security conference on Afghanistan, set to take place in New Delhi next week.
“Pakistan’s decision is unfortunate, but not surprising. It reflects its mindset of viewing Afghanistan as its protectorate. Pakistan has not attended the previous meetings of this format”, Indian officials said, adding that a “formal response” from Pakistan is still awaited.
“Its media comments against India are an unsuccessful attempt to deflect attention from its pernicious role in Afghanistan”, they stated.
The reference is to Yusuf’s remarks on 2 November, when he was asked by a reporter if he would be attending the event hosted by New Delhi.
“I will not go. A spoiler can’t play the role of a peacemaker”, Yusuf stated, reiterating Islamabad’s longstanding criticism of India over its alleged involvement in propping up terrorist groups targeting Pakistan.
Besides Yusuf, the country's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has claimed that New Delhi used Afghanistan's territory during the reign of fugitive President Ashraf Ghani as a training ground for terrorist groups that targeted Pakistani interests.
India rejects these allegations.
Indian officials claimed that there is an “overwhelming response” to New Delhi’s invitation from all the countries but Pakistan and China. Beijing is yet to make a decision on attending the New Delhi conference, they said.
“Central Asian countries as well as Russia and Iran have confirmed participation. The enthusiastic response is a manifestation of the importance attached to India’s role in regional efforts to promote peace and security in Afghanistan”, officials pointed out.
They also noted that this would be the “first time” that all the Central Asian countries— Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan — and not just Afghanistan’s immediate land neighbours will be participating in this format.
“The high-level participation in next week’s meeting hosted by India reflects the widespread and growing concern of regional countries about the situation in Afghanistan and their desire to consult and coordinate with each other. India has an important role to play in this process”, they said.
Since the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban* in August this year, the Indian leadership has warned on several occasions about the possibility of terrorist groups using the country as a launchpad to carry out terrorist strikes against other nations.
Before the Taliban takeover, India was Afghanistan’s biggest regional donor, having extended aid and developmental assistance worth over $3 billion to the Central Asian country.
However, New Delhi all but ended its diplomatic presence in the nation a day after the Taliban took over Kabul on 15 August.
*The Taliban is a terrorist group banned in Russia and many other nations.