India, Pakistan Must Show Common Sense On Afghanistan

ZAMIR KABULOV is Russia’s top diplomat in Afghanistan. He served as Russian ambassador to Kabul from 2004 to 2009 and is now President Putin’s special representative in Kabul. With extensive experience in the region, he is at the heart of the Kremlin’s attempts for peace in the region. In an exclusive interview with THE WEEK, Kabulov says the west is trying to foment trouble in Afghanistan and that India has a key role to play in bringing peace to the country. Excerpts:

- Mandira Nayar

Q/ What role do you think India can play to resolve the Afghan crisis?

A/ India is a strong regional actor with security interests in the region, so it can and should play a major role, along with Russia, China and other neighbours of Afghanistan. We believe that outsiders—Americans and Europeans—cannot play a role, because Afghanistan, for them, is a remote idea. But we all care. In that sense, India should play a big role.

We did our best to build formats. Of course, we already have the Moscow format for all neighbours and relevant states of the region. In order to build a so-called regional approach, we want to build a core format, like a G5 with India, Pakistan, Iran, China and Russia. We believe that it can be an engine for not only building regional consensus, but also for doing something in order to implement this consensus and let the current rulers of Afghanistan know that they should listen to us.

We are not going to interfere. But what they are doing will not only damage them, it will also damage us, in terms of terrorism, drugs etc. We believe that India can play a role and we are ready to cooperate.

Q/ India firmly believes that the Taliban is a Pakistan creation.

A/ It is a wrong perception. If you watch carefully what is going on between the Taliban and Pakistan, you will see that although Pakistan has the most influence on the Taliban, Islamabad cannot manipulate it. That is why it is up to us to not exclude Pakistan. We should include Pakistan, because Pakistan suffers as well. Pakistan has a civil society and if terrorism flourishes in Afghanistan, it is dangerous for that civil society.