India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Harish Parvathaneni, reaffirmed India’s commitment to peace, stability, and development in Afghanistan. Speaking at the UN Security Council quarterly briefing, he highlighted India’s focus on humanitarian aid, capacity-building initiatives, and active engagement with regional and international partners to support the Afghan people.
00:00India and Afghanistan share a civilizational relationship.
00:03Being contiguous neighbors, our bonds of friendship span many centuries
00:06and this history inspires us to foster closer engagement with the Afghan people.
00:11India has a paramount interest in ensuring peace and stability in Afghanistan.
00:15We believe in the utmost importance of international and regional consensus and cooperation
00:19on key issues concerning Afghanistan.
01:44Being contiguous neighbors, our bonds of friendship span many centuries, and this history inspires us to foster closer engagement with the Afghan people.
01:52India has a paramount interest in ensuring peace and stability in Afghanistan.
01:56We believe in the utmost importance of international and regional consensus and cooperation on key issues concerning Afghanistan
02:03and actively engage with all relevant parties to promote peace, stability, and development in the country.
02:09Our participation in UN meetings in Doha and other regional forums reflects our efforts.
02:15India's immediate priorities in Afghanistan include provision of humanitarian assistance and implementation of capacity-building initiatives for the Afghan people.
02:24India's commitment to Afghanistan's reconstruction is demonstrated through more than 500 development partnership projects across all provinces.
02:30Our work with UN agencies in critical areas such as health, food security, education, and sports is also the manifestation of this goal.
02:39Mr. President, in the aftermath of the earthquake earlier this month, India was among the first countries to provide humanitarian assistance.
02:47We immediately delivered 1,000 family tents and 15 tons of food supplies to the affected provinces of Afghanistan.
02:53An additional 21 tons of relief materials, including essential medicines, hygiene kits, blankets, and generators, were dispatched.
03:00More relief supplies are underway and will be delivered in the coming days.
03:04This humanitarian assistance dovetails with India's support since August 2021, during which we have supplied around 50,000 tons of wheat, over 330 tons of medicines and vaccinations,
03:1540,000 liters of pesticides and other essential social support items for millions of Afghans in dire need of humanitarian assistance.
03:23In partnership with the UN Office on drugs and crime, we have provided 84 metric tons of assistance and medicines,
03:3132 metric tons of social support items for drug rehabilitation programs, particularly those focused on women.
03:37India's scholarships and fellowships to Afghan students since 2023 total over 2,000 such undergraduate and postgraduate scholarships,
03:48including nearly 600 for girls and women.
03:51Mr. President, India is closely monitoring the security situation in Afghanistan.
03:57The international community must coordinate efforts towards ensuring that entities and individuals designated by the UN Security Council,
04:05the ISIL and al-Qaeda, and their affiliates, including Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed,
04:11along with those who facilitate their operations,
04:13no longer exploit Afghan territory for terrorist activities.
04:16On the political front, India's external affairs minister has spoken twice with the acting foreign minister of Afghanistan.
04:23We welcome the strong condemnation of the Pahalgam terrorist attack of 22nd April 2025 by the Afghan side.
04:30Mr. President, any coherent policy to address a post-conflict situation must combine incentivizing positive behavior and disincentivizing harmful actions.
04:39Focusing only on punitive measures is unlikely to meet desired results.
04:44The United Nations and the international community has adopted more nuanced approaches in other post-conflict contexts.
04:50Afghanistan needs a fresh approach, with hitherto unused policy instruments, to support its people who are in such a dire need.
04:58A business-as-usual approach is only expected to maintain the status quo, which is not good for Afghanistan and unlikely to meet the expectations of the international community for the people of Afghanistan.
05:12After more than four years of living under a sanctioned regime, the Afghan people have not seen much scope for enhanced development, assistance and cooperation.
05:19The most unfortunate earthquake has made the situation even more dire.
05:24This is the time for compassion, a time for lending a helping hand to millions of Afghans suffering under the yoke of poverty, disease and hunger.
05:32In conclusion, I'd like to reiterate that our commitment to meeting developmental needs of the people of Afghanistan is non-negotiable.
05:39We will continue engaging with all relevant stakeholders and broadly support the international community's efforts towards a stable, peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan.
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