Top Security Officials In Dushanbe Concur Afghans Must Have Access To Humanitarian Aid

The people of Afghanistan should have unfettered access to humanitarian aid, according to today’s statement issued in Dushanbe at the end of the Fourth Regional Security Dialogue on Afghanistan with National Security advisers and secretaries of Security Councils. The statement was adopted on Friday following a meeting attended by senior officials from China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

“The heads of delegations welcome the Republic of Tajikistan’s offer to provide the country’s logistical infrastructure, including six bridges on the Tajik-Afghan border, for the delivery of humanitarian supplies by international organizations to the Afghan people,” the document noted. The meeting’s participants “also supported the use of a multifunctional international transport hub in the city of Termez of the Republic of Uzbekistan for the delivery of humanitarian aid.” “In this context, they consider it vital that countries strive to ensure the Afghan people’s unhindered access to humanitarian assistance,” the statement stressed.

The statement highlights “the UN and the international community’s key role in providing humanitarian aid and assistance to the Afghan people.” The parties supported the work of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) as an important component of strengthening the UN’s role in efforts to rapidly improve the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan and welcomed the extension of its mandate until March 17, 2023.

The delegation heads separately “spotlighted Tajikistan’s initiative to create a ‘security belt’ around Afghanistan, and welcomed the ‘Tunxi Initiative’ of Afghanistan’s neighboring countries to support economic reconstruction, practical cooperation with Afghanistan. In addition, they commended the activities of the Moscow format on Afghanistan, the extended Troika (Russia, the United States, China, Pakistan), the SCO-Afghanistan contact group and other mechanisms aimed at resolving the situation in Afghanistan and the war-ravaged country’s post-conflict reconstruction. The meeting reaffirmed the principles and results of the Delhi Declaration, which was adopted at the Third Regional Security Dialogue in New Delhi on November 10, 2021. They “called on all parties to back Afghanistan with economic and humanitarian support, in addition to trade and building up domestic capacities.”

The parties “underscored the relevance and timeliness of this format” and agreed to continue their work.