EAM S Jaishankar to represent India at humanitarian conference on Afghanistan

At the international conference on humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, EAM S Jaishankar will represent India.

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will represent India at the international conference on humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan in Geneva. He will join the meet virtually that will take place on November 23-24.

The conference is being co-hosted by the Afghanistan government, the government of Finland, and the United Nations. The event will see the participation of representatives from 70 countries, international organizations, and comes at a time when the US substantially plans to reduce its troops in the country. 

In 2020, a Taliban-US government pact was witnessed in February, followed by the start of intra-Afghan talks but it has not resulted in peace in the country. The violence level in the country remains high despite peace talks.

India meanwhile has increased its outreach with all stakeholders in Afghanistan. In September, the EAM had represented India virtually at the start of intra-Afghan talks between the Taliban and the Afghanistan government. 

It was followed by three high profile visits to New Delhi, first by Senior Afghan leader Abdul Rashid Dostum, followed by the Chairman of the high council for national reconciliation of Afghanistan, Dr Abdullah Abdullah, and then by former Governor of Balkh Atta Muhammad Noor.

New Delhi has been a close partner of the Afghan government and has been helping in capacity building and infrastructure development in the country. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, it sent 75,000 MT of wheat to the country via the Chabahar port in Iran.