NSA-level meeting discussed at length 'very serious humanitarian situation' in Afghanistan: MEA

India on Thursday emphasized "unimpeded and unhindered access" for humanitarian assistance providers in Afghanistan to help its citizens who are facing deteriorating socio-economic situation.

Addressing the weekly media briefing, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said "the very serious humanitarian situation" in Afghanistan was discussed at length at the NSA-level meeting hosted by India on Wednesday.

He said India has been participating in meetings over how to address humanitarian concerns in Afghanistan.

National Security Advisers or Secretaries of the Security Council of five Central Asian countries - Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan besides Russia and Iran - attended the security dialogue and adopted the Delhi declaration.

The Delhi Regional Security Dialogue on Afghanistan was chaired by NSA Ajit Doval.

Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August this year and there are widespread concerns over the "suffering of people" due to the security situation.

Bagchi said there have been difficulties due to "lack of unimpeded access" for humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan.

"One of the key elements which we have seen in previous meetings was the need for unimpeded, unhindered access for humanitarian assistance providers. There have been difficulties due to lack of unimpeded access," he said in response to media queries.

"We have been participating in meetings over this issue of how to address impending humanitarian concerns. In the NSA meeting, the very serious humanitarian situation in Afghanistan was discussed at length," he added.

He said discussions at the NSA-level dialogue, in which eight countries participated, were "fruitful and there was agreement on many issues".

"Due to this, we were able to come up with Delhi Declaration that talked about inclusive government, humanitarian aid, and Afghan soil not to be used for terrorism," Bagchi said.

He said it was also decided that such kinds of discussions should continue.

"All the regional nations agreed upon the importance of such discussions especially held in India, by India," he said.

He also reiterated India's support for the people of Afghanistan.

"India's support to the people of Afghanistan is very clear. We have been extending support over many years to all the people of Afghanistan. The situation on the ground has become very difficult over the last few months," Bagchi said.

The participants at the NSA-level meeting condemned in the strongest terms all terrorist activities and reaffirmed their firm commitment to combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, including its financing, the dismantling of terrorist infrastructure and countering radicalization, to ensure that Afghanistan would never become a safe haven for global terrorism.

They called for a collective cooperation against the menace of radicalization, extremism, separatism and drug trafficking in the region.

They also stressed the necessity of forming an open and truly inclusive government that represents the will of all the people of Afghanistan and has representation from all sections of their society, including major ethno-political forces in the country.

The participants expressed concern over the deteriorating socio-economic and humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, and underlined the need to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the people of the country.

They reiterated that humanitarian assistance should be provided in an unimpeded, direct and assured manner to Afghanistan and that the assistance is distributed within the country in a non-discriminatory manner across all sections of the Afghan society.

( With inputs from ANI )

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