India for 'concerted action' against 'terrorism syndicate' in Afghanistan

United Nations : India has called for concerted action to isolate and root out the syndicate of terrorism including Al Qaeda, Taliban and Lashkar-e-Taiba, saying that terrorism supported from outside remains the principal problem in Afghanistan.

"The principal problem in Afghanistan remains the existence of terrorism, drawing upon ideological, financial and logistical support from beyond Afghanistan's borders," India's Permanent UN Representative Hardeep Singh Puri said during a UN Security Council debate Wednesday.

"We need concerted action to isolate and root out the syndicate of terrorism which includes elements of the Al-Qaeda, Taliban, Lashkar-e-Taiba and other terrorist and extremist groups," he said.

Puri also stressed the need to create an enabling environment where the Afghan people can live in peace and security and decide their future themselves, without outside interference, coercion and intimidation.

"Moving forward, we need sustained international commitment to strengthen the Afghan government's capacity for governance, security and economic development," the envoy said,

"Enhanced developmental assistance and foreign investments in Afghanistan and building regional linkages are critical in ensuring an irreversible transition in that country," he said.

India, Puri said, fully supports the efforts for regional confidence-building as a critical component of international efforts to support Afghanistan as it takes forward the task of national reconciliation even while it assumes full responsibility for security.

India also fully supports an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned inclusive and transparent process of reconciliation as opposed to an internationally led process, he said.

This should be accompanied by an inclusive political process and intra-Afghan dialogue, renunciation of violence, cutting of ties to terrorist groups, abiding by the Afghan constitution with its protections for human rights, including the rights of women, he said.

Puri said India saw the Delhi Investment Summit Thursday as a critical link between the Istanbul Process and the Tokyo Conference on 8 July.

"The Summit will also be helpful in countering the current narrative of anxiety of withdrawal and in reversing it with a narrative of opportunity and hope," he said referring to planned drawdown of US forces in Afghanistan in 2014.