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After Afghanistan proposed a special UN Security Council discussion on the deteriorating situation in the country, India, which holds the rotating presidency of the UNSC this month, has started consultations to hold the special discussion in the coming days, sources said.
This comes on a day after Taliban attempted a second attack on the Salma Dam, which had been built by India in Herat. “The Taliban attack on Salma Dam failed! Terrorist Taliban attacked the #Salma Dam in Herat province to destroy it last night. But, fortunately, they have suffered heavy casualties and fled the area as a result of counter-attacks of ANDSF,” a spokesperson for the Afghan defence ministry tweeted.
The proposal had been made by the Afghan foreign minister Haneef Atmar during a conversation he held with S Jaishankar on Tuesday night. A statement by the Afghan foreign office said, “Atmar discussed the unprecedented increase in the Taliban’s brutal attacks on the Afghan people, which have resulted in the killing of scores of civilians and displacement of many thousands of others.” Atmar highlighted the “war crimes” committed by the Taliban in collusion with foreign fighters and terror groups, calling them flagrant violations of international humanitarian law, it said.
While there was no statement from the Indian government, the Afghan statement quoted Jaishankar as saying that a UNSC meeting would be “important” in the circumstances “for the immediate cessation of human rights abuses and the establishment of lasting peace and stability.”
Meanwhile, the “extended troika” – US, China, Russia and Pakistan – will meet in Doha on August 11 for talks on Afghanistan’s future. Sponsored by Russia, it has steadfastly kept India out of the group – Zamir Kabulov, the Russian special envoy, has maintained India need not be invited because India had “no influence with the Taliban”.
This comes on a day after Taliban attempted a second attack on the Salma Dam, which had been built by India in Herat. “The Taliban attack on Salma Dam failed! Terrorist Taliban attacked the #Salma Dam in Herat province to destroy it last night. But, fortunately, they have suffered heavy casualties and fled the area as a result of counter-attacks of ANDSF,” a spokesperson for the Afghan defence ministry tweeted.
The proposal had been made by the Afghan foreign minister Haneef Atmar during a conversation he held with S Jaishankar on Tuesday night. A statement by the Afghan foreign office said, “Atmar discussed the unprecedented increase in the Taliban’s brutal attacks on the Afghan people, which have resulted in the killing of scores of civilians and displacement of many thousands of others.” Atmar highlighted the “war crimes” committed by the Taliban in collusion with foreign fighters and terror groups, calling them flagrant violations of international humanitarian law, it said.
While there was no statement from the Indian government, the Afghan statement quoted Jaishankar as saying that a UNSC meeting would be “important” in the circumstances “for the immediate cessation of human rights abuses and the establishment of lasting peace and stability.”
Meanwhile, the “extended troika” – US, China, Russia and Pakistan – will meet in Doha on August 11 for talks on Afghanistan’s future. Sponsored by Russia, it has steadfastly kept India out of the group – Zamir Kabulov, the Russian special envoy, has maintained India need not be invited because India had “no influence with the Taliban”.
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