A meeting of the "Central Asia-India" group on Afghanistan was held in New Delhi
The first meeting of the Central Asia-India joint working group on Afghanistan was held in New Delhi on Tuesday, March 7. The meeting was attended by special envoys/high-ranking officials from India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
The meeting was also attended by representatives of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the UN World Food Programme.
The meeting became a platform for discussing important regional issues related to Afghanistan. The meeting participants exchanged views on the current situation, including the political, security and humanitarian situation in Afghanistan. The importance of building a truly inclusive and representative political structure that respects the rights of all Afghans and ensures equal rights for women, girls and ethnic minorities, including access to education, was stressed.
The Indian side offered capacity building training courses for relevant Central Asian stakeholders in the field of countering drug trafficking. In addition, India and UNODC also agreed to cooperate in the fight against drug trafficking, including efforts to rehabilitate the drug-using Afghan population and help develop alternative livelihood opportunities, according to a press release from the Indian Foreign Ministry.
To address the current humanitarian situation, India has announced its partnership with the World Food Program to deliver 20,000 tons of wheat to the Afghan people through Chabahar port.
The meeting participants agreed to continue consultations in this format on a regular basis and adopted a joint statement.
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