NEW YORK – India has supported the recent move of the unity government inAfghanistan for peace talks with the Taliban, saying the “irreconcilableguns” in the war-torn country need to be silenced.

At the 2nd Kabul Process Conference on February 28, Afghanistan PresidentAshraf Ghani called on the Taliban to participate in peace talks to “savethe country” while offering security and incentives like passports toinsurgents who take part in the negotiations.

Ghani had said a ceasefire must be agreed on and the Taliban should bedeclared a political group. “The Afghan Government’s willingness for peaceis despite the fact that armed groups have identified themselves anddemonstrated to all of us that they are the irreconcilables,? India’sPermanent Representative to the United Nations Syed Akbaruddin told the UNSecurity Council during an open debate on Afghanistan.

“These efforts of the Afghan government calling on the armed groups tocease violence and join the national peace and reconciliation process thatwould protect the rights of all the citizens, including women, children andthe minorities, deserves the full support,” he said yesterday.

Akbaruddin, however, said it should be clear to the armed opposition thatthere would be no tolerance for those who continue violence. “Any violenceneeds a robust response. The irreconcilable guns need to be silenced,” hesaid.

He said India had invested over USD 2 billion in Afghanistan since 2002 inreconstruction and development of the country. “A strong focus of our workhas been on nearly 550 High Impact Community Development Projects which runacross areas such as education, health, agriculture and irrigation, powerand energy,” he added.

“All these have a direct bearing on the improvement of lives of all Afghansincluding girls and women specially so for projects in education andhealthcare sectors,” the top Indian diplomat said.

Welcoming the focus of the Security Council on linkages between extremism,terrorism, drug production and illegal exploitation of natural resources ofAfghanistan, he said the increase in cultivation of poppy in areas underthe control of the Taliban and the outfit’s involvement in virtually allaspects of the opium trade suggested that it was akin to a drug cartel.

“We hope that the Council will better utilize the range of tools availableto it to deal with these trans-national networks of drugs, terrorism andcrime,” he said. Akbaruddin said that despite the international community’sefforts, those supporting the terrorists affecting Afghanistan have notbeen deterred.

“There are still those who provide sanctuaries to support the dark agendasof terrorist organisations like the Taliban, Haqqani Network, ISIS,Al-Qaeda, LeT and JeM.?Indeed the challenges posed by cross borderterrorism emanating from safe havens and sanctuaries to Afghanistan and toour region must be addressed,” Akbaruddin said.

A resurgent Taliban has been blamed for much of the uptick in violence inAfghanistan since the US and NATO forces ended their combat missions in2014.