New Delhi: After an inaugural security meeting aimed at preventing terrorism and maintaining regional stability, India and four Central Asian countries on Tuesday declared that Afghanistan should not be used for "any terrorist acts".
Ajit Doval, India's National Security Advisor, hosted counterparts from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in New Delhi following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's India-Central Asia Leadership Summit in January.
Afghanistan dominated Tuesday's agenda as, as earlier this year, officials expressed concern over the country's deteriorating situation.
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According to Doval, Afghanistan is an important issue which affects all of us. We meet in the midst of intense turmoil in global affairs and the unpredictability of the future.
After US-led forces withdrew and the Taliban took over the nation in August last year, India severed all diplomatic ties with Afghanistan and closed its embassy there.
After the previous Taliban regime was overthrown in a US-led invasion in 2001, New Delhi spent billions of dollars on infrastructure and humanitarian aid in Afghanistan.
Following the talks on Tuesday, a joint statement "emphasized that the territory of Afghanistan should not be used for ... planning, financing, or sheltering ... any terrorist activities."
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With Turkmenistan absent from the meeting, India and Central Asian countries also drew attention to the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Afghanistan and urged action to provide assistance to their people.
Their security chiefs also talked about connectivity to improve communication and trade. The statement also stresses the importance of a "collective and coordinated response" to the problem of "terrorist propaganda, recruitment, and fundraising efforts".
Organized crime and terrorist groups are "once again flourishing" in Afghanistan, according to a UN report published last month. Daesh's regional affiliate has been involved in several high-profile attacks in Kabul in recent months, including a suicide bombing outside the Russian embassy in September and an attack on the Pakistani embassy last week.
According to Harsh V. Pant, director of strategic studies at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, the regional gathering provided an opportunity for India to "work together and engage" with Central Asian countries to ensure that "financing The groups' sources have been reduced" and that "the Taliban government in Kabul is under pressure to act on the issue."
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India is trying to negotiate a modus operandi with the Central Asian countries to look into what is happening in Afghanistan and the persistence of terrorist groups there so that a coordinated policy response can be launched.