'No BRICS recognition for Taliban govt until int'l law assurances'

Johannesburg: The BRICS countries have agreed not to recognise the Taliban government in Afghanistan until they receive assurances that it will comply with the prescripts of international law, South African foreign minister Naledi Pandor said on Friday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday chaired a virtual summit of the five-nation grouping. The 13th BRICS summit was also attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro.

"We had a BRICS Summit (on Thursday) in which our president spoke, and we've adopted a statement, that is a BRICS statement, very clearly articulating the view that we want to see the restoration of democracy and enjoyment of fundamental human rights by the people of Afghanistan, Minister of International Relations Pandor told the radio station 702.

The BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) brings together five of the largest developing countries of the world, representing 41 per cent of the global population, 24 per cent of the global GDP and 16 per cent of the global trade.

Until we are assured that the government, once it's in place, intends to observe the prescripts of international law, we wouldn't proceed with any form of recognition, Pandor said.

The minister also explained why South Africa refused to accept Afghan refugees as an interim stop while their immigration permits to the US were processed.

We received a rather odd set of letters from South African based lawyers, asking that we receive two aeroplane loads of persons who had sought refuge in Pakistan, but would be transported to South Africa in order for US authorities to vet them in South Africa, because some of them would be given the special immigration permit by the United States.