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Kapil Sibal thinks BJP will use Taliban row to its ‘advantage’ in UP polls
The Congress party has been directing its attacks at the central government regarding its policy on the Afghanistan situation, saying that the BJP-led government has time to hold talks with the Taliban in Doha, but is unable to come to a consensus with protesting farmers.
Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Friday alleged that the Centre will try to use the Afghanistan conflict, centering on the new Taliban regime, to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) ‘advantage’ in the upcoming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. Insisting that India has hardly any role to play in an “inclusive intra-Afghan dialogue”, Sibal alleged that the entire central government's policy towards the Taliban regime will be guided by how it can use the conflict to its own advantage in the UP assembly polls.
“We are hardly a player in an ‘inclusive intra-Afghan dialogue.’ Our policy towards the Taliban regime will be guided by how this regime can use it to its advantage in the UP assembly election. That is the bitter truth! The media is already playing its part!” Sibal tweeted.
The BJP is yet to make any official response to Kapil Sibal's remarks.
The Congress leader's comments come a day after India's permanent representative to the United Nations, TS Tirumurti, reiterated India’s stance that Afghan territory should not be used to threaten or attack any country, nor should the Taliban use it to shelter and train terrorists or plan and finance terrorist acts.
The Congress party has been directing its attacks at the central government regarding its policy on the Afghanistan situation, saying that the BJP-led government has time to hold talks with the Taliban in Doha, but is unable to come to a consensus with protesting farmers, who have been demonstrating against three contentious agricultural laws for months.
The government, for its part, has been emphasising the welfare of Afghan people in its approach. According to Tirumurti, India has undertaken more than 500 development projects in each of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan. Though shut out by the Pakistan-backed Taliban, India has a very strong ally in Afghanistan — the Afghan people. And New Delhi is looking to find a way to build on that equity that few other neighbours of Afghanistan, least of all Pakistan, can claim credibly.
Only a few days after the Taliban named an acting cabinet, the group is already facing cascading challenges from neighbouring Pakistan, as the humanitarian crisis continues to deepen in the war-torn land.
