SAARC: Meet Cancelled As Pakistan Insists On Taliban’s Participation

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) foreign ministers meet stands cancelled. The meet was slated to be held on Saturday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. A meeting of foreign ministers of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries, was to be hosted by Nepal this year.

The SAARC meeting was cancelled after Pakistan insisted on the inclusion of the Taliban leadership in Afghanistan. India and other members of the group objected to the proposal. Soon due to lack of consensus the meeting was cancelled.

Taliban has not been recognised by India or other nations of the world. The new regime in Kabul is still not recognised by the world. The top cabinet ministers are also blacklisted by the UN. The foreign minister of the Taliban government Amir Khan Muttaqi is unlikely to attend any UN and affiliated meetings.

The SAARC is the regional intergovernmental organisation of eight countries of South Asia–Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The majority of members in SAARC agreed that an empty chair can be kept for Afghanistan during the meet. However, Pakistan did not agree and therefore the meeting was called off.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meets said that the Taliban is a non-inclusive government. The PM had insisted that the world must think before accepting or recognising the regime in Afghanistan. He also pointed out that women, minorities have no representation in the government in Kabul.

Also Read: Indian Forces Get New Training Module On Taliban’s Modus Operandi