Future Set-Up in Afghanistan

Press Statement

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:

On Future Set-Up in Afghanistan

The Taliban regime in Afghanistan has effectively collapsed with the entry of the Northern Alliance forces into Kabul and other major cities. International attention is now focussed on the post-Taliban government and set-up which will come into being. The United Nations has to work out a credible plan so that a representative and multi-ethnic government takes over.

In this connection, the United States and its allies are making efforts to see that sections of the Taliban are brought into a future government. The Indian government had earlier firmly rejected such proposals to include the "moderate" Taliban. However, at the press conference in London, Prime Minister Vajpayee stated that liberal elements from the Taliban can be included in a future coalition. This contradicts the earlier stand taken by the government.

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) wants the government to stick to its earlier stand and not get pressurised to accept any Taliban participation in the new dispensation in Afghanistan.