India had extended the invitation to Moeed to attend the regional conference. Russia, China, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan will reportedly attend the moot hosted by the Indian national security adviser….reports Asian Lite News
Pakistan National Security Adviser Dr Moeed Yusuf on Tuesday said that he will not travel to India to attend a conference on Afghanistan being hosted by New Delhi on November 10, Express Tribune reported.
In a response to a question during a press conference, Yusuf said that a “spoiler” could not take on the role of a “peacemaker”, the report said.
India had extended the invitation to Moeed to attend the regional conference. Russia, China, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan will reportedly attend the moot hosted by the Indian national security adviser.
While India was not invited at the conference hosted by Pakistan in September and Iran in October, New Delhi was part of the Moscow Format, the report said.
India’s effort to host the regional conference is seen as an attempt to deflect domestic pressure and the impression that New Delhi has been left out of Afghan consultations, the report added.
At a weekly news briefing, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Asim Iftikhar said that India seemed to be trying to find “some relevance” in the context of Afghanistan while referring to the upcoming conference in New Delhi.
Moeed said Pakistan and Uzbekistan shared the same stance on Afghanistan, adding that there was a need to coordinate on Afghanistan for the sake of the Afghan people.
He said there was a need for constructive engagement with the Taliban regime in Kabul to avert a humanitarian crisis in the war-torn country. “The world’s failure to engage with Kabul would result in a humanitarian crisis,” he added.
TAPI project
India is reviewing the Taliban’s offer to resume work on Tapi (Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India) gas supply pipeline, as the security issues remain a challenge, official sources said.
According to the officials, India is reviewing the Taliban’s offer as the security concerns, both in Afghanistan and Pakistan, remain a constant challenge..
“Pakistan wants this project to be limited to its own country, it will create all sorts of trouble so that this project does not reach India. Pakistan’s hostile attitude towards India has been continuing especially after the Taliban took over Afghanistan wherein it has been actively involved in the proxy war by sending terrorists to India.
“India has adopted a careful watch on the situation after the new regime under Taliban and see how the new government ensures the security for this project,” an official said.
However, strategic experts said that there are many challenges in getting this project materialised in the changed perspectives from Indian point of view.
Expressing apprehensions about the TAPI project, they said that credible actions against terrorism have not been assured either by Afghanistan or Pakistan, therefore, this project seems to be unviable for India as of now.
“Recently Turkmenistan Foreign Minister was in Kabul to discuss work on TAPI initially to supply gas to Pakistan. Although the dialogue mechanism for TAPI with the four countries has gone on, the realisation has been held back due to instability in Afghanistan and deterioration in Indo-Pak relations,” former diplomat Ambassador Anil Trigunayat told IANS.
“As Pakistan is refusing to take any credible measures against cross-border terrorism or home-based terror groups, I do not forsee TAPI acquiring significant momentum as far as India the biggest eventual consumer is concerned,” he added.
