'Hope terrorists don't use Af soil for fuelling unrest'

New Delhi: India on Tuesday hoped that the situation in Afghanistan does not pose a challenge to its neighbours and the Afghan territory is not used by terrorist groups such as LeT and JeM to threaten other countries, as it pitched for an inclusive and broad-based dispensation in Kabul representing all sections of Afghan society.

In his address at a special session of the UN Human Rights Council on the situation in Afghanistan, Indian ambassador to the UN in Geneva Indra Mani Pandey said a "grave" humanitarian crisis is unfolding in the country and everyone is concerned about the increasing violations of fundamental rights of the Afghan people.

He said India hopes that the situation stabilises soon, and the parties concerned address the humanitarian and security issues.

"We also hope that there is an inclusive and broad-based dispensation which represents all sections of Afghan society. Voices of Afghan women, aspirations of Afghan children and the rights of minorities must be respected," he said.

"A broad-based representation would help the arrangement gain more acceptability and legitimacy," he added.

Pandey, India's Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, added: "We hope that the situation in Afghanistan does not pose a challenge to its neighbours and its territory is not used by terrorist groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), to threaten any other country."

There has been increasing concern in the security establishment in India about the possible security impact of developments in Afghanistan in Jammu and Kashmir as LeT and JeM have close links with the Taliban.

The ambassador said as a neighbour of Afghanistan, the situation prevailing there is of "great concern" to India.

"We are closely monitoring the rapidly evolving security situation in Afghanistan and we continue to call upon parties concerned to maintain law and order, ensure the safety and security of all Afghan nationals, UN personnel and diplomatic staff members, and observe human rights and international humanitarian law in all circumstances in Afghanistan," he added.

The UN Human Rights Council has convened the special session to discuss the human rights concerns and situation in Afghanistan after Kabul fell to the Taliban.

Meanwhile, America's top spy held a secret meeting with the Taliban's de facto leader Abdul Ghani Baradar in Kabul on Monday in the highest-level face-to-face encounter between the two sides since the militant group seized the Afghan capital, a media report said on Tuesday.

The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan on August 15, two weeks before the US was set to complete its troop withdrawal after a costly two-decade war. This forced Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to flee the country to the UAE. CIA Director William J Burns held a secret meeting in Kabul on Monday with Baradar in the highest-level face-to-face encounter between the Taliban and the Biden administration since the militants seized the Afghan capital, the Washington Post reported, citing unnamed US officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

President Joe Biden's decision to dispatch his top spy, a veteran of the foreign service, comes amid a frantic effort to evacuate people from Kabul international airport in what the President has called "one of the largest, most difficult airlifts in history," the paper said.

The CIA declined to comment on the Taliban meeting but the discussions likely involved the impending August 31 deadline for the US military to conclude its airlift of US citizens and Afghan allies, it added.

The Biden administration is under pressure from some allies to keep US forces in the country beyond August 31 deadline in order to assist the evacuation of tens of thousands of citizens of the US and Western countries as well as Afghan allies desperate to escape Taliban rule.

However, a Taliban spokesman on Monday warned that there will be "consequences" if the US and UK sought an extension to the August 31 deadline for the US-led troop withdrawal from the war-torn country. With agency inputs