New Delhi
The Secretary of the Security Council of the Kyrgyz Republic Marat Imankulov has termed India a "very reliable partner in the region", one with which Bishkek will work. India and Kyrgyzstan held the first-ever strategic dialogue in 2021. Marat, who is the counterpart of India's national security advisor Ajit Doval, is in India to take part in the first ever India Central Asia National Security Advisors (NSAs) meet.
In an exclusive conversation with our diplomatic correspondent Sidhant Sibal, Secretary Imankulov expressed concern over the security situation in Afghanistan. He said, "We want Afghanistan to stop being a territory, a country from where terrorism emanates. We want to see it as a country which does not present a threat to any other country".
Since Taliban takeover of Afghanistan last year in August, the security situation in the country has deteriorated even as the humanitarian situation deteriorates. The Kyrgyz security chief called on the "world community to come to aid and assistance to the long-suffering people of Afghanistan, to give as much humanitarian aid as possible.". He also welcomed India's humanitarian support to the Afghan people, one that included food, medicines.
WION: The India, Central Asia NSA or national security advisors meet, how do you see the meeting, a new mechanism to resolve regional issues like drug trafficking or narcotics?
Marat Imankulov: Thank you very much. This meeting we are holding of the NSAs and secretaries of the national security council of the central Asian states is not any kind of separate grouping of our countries apart from anyone else. Kyrgyzstan considers it continuation of the dialogue that was held last year, in November in Delhi. That was the initiative of India, countries of central Asian regions met along with countries of China, Russia and Iran. We look upon it as a continuation of that, we don't feel that it is something we are holding separately, apart from other countries. Issues discussed are continuation of the dialogue last year. Before that I had a bilateral meeting with NSA Ajit Doval of India. The meeting in Delhi of India, Central Asian NSAs is part of wider dialogue as I mentioned earlier. It is important for us to discuss security issues not only in the region but also in the world because we see armed conflict in different parts of the world and security is an issue of concern to everyone. International organizations, for instance the UN, is not able to cope with the situation developing in different parts of the world. The initiative that India has taken to hold this meeting is something we are grateful for; it gives us an opportunity to discuss all kinds of security issues and it is always useful. It is important to ensure peace and stability in Afghanistan. As we know when the Taliban came to power, sometime back they said the Taliban would not be a threat to anybody, they will put a stop to drug trafficking, but we know that it has not happened, and security issues remain a big question when it comes to Afghanistan. I would like to add, something other central Asian countries have also said, we are of the same view that after gaining independence, all the central Asian countries have cooperated with India. We have had close cooperation with India, and we cherish the friendship. This year, we celebrated the 30 years of establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Kyrgyzstan. We have historic relations, we have relations in areas like tourism, transport, economic, military technical cooperation. We intend to continue expanding cooperation. For us, India is a friendly country, it is a partner country and it's an influential country with a rapidly growing economy. It is a large country with over one billion population. In January, the India central Asia summit took place, and our leaders gave us the task to hold the national security advisor meeting. I think all of us are of the same view, the issue of stability in the region and how we need to work towards it for lasting peace. My colleagues spoke about it during today's meeting, and we spoke about the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan. We had the winter coming up and many people are on the verge of starvation in Afghanistan. We are looking at a crisis situation in that country and we call on the world community to come to aid and assistance to the long-suffering people of Afghanistan, to give as much humanitarian aid as possible. We all want to see Afghanistan getting on to the path of stability and prosperity, no matter which government is in power over there. We want Afghanistan to stop being a territory, a country from which territory emanates. We want to see it as a country which does not present a threat to any other country or any other region in the world.
WION: How do you see India as a security partner?
Marat Imankulov: We look upon India as a very reliable partner in the region. For us India has always been a very close partner. We have the same views on the issues of security, India also wants stability in the region. How we will get stability is to move towards development. If we work on development issues, if we work on development of the countries, it will ensure stability. For this we should not be having any problems or conflicts and what we need is peaceful coexistence and economic development for the entire region to be peaceful, secure and to be stable. So, all of us need to take coordinated efforts, we are working towards it, both with India and our neighbors-- our close neighbours in central Asia as well as the bigger countries in the region, with Russia, China and also with Iran and Pakistan. These are also our SCO partners, so we meet often, and we discuss security issues in that format as well. All these will give positive results and we have been working together. I am confident that our joint work in the area of ensuring security will give our people a chance to live in peace and to go ahead on development and prosperity.
WION: India and Kyrgyzstan have expressed concerns over the situation in Afghanistan. You have pointed to issue of terrorist using spaces in Afghanistan and India has expressed concerns over Pakistan based terrorists finding space. What solution do you see in Afghanistan and what role do you see for India?
Marat Imankulov: The Afghan situation is a problem that Afghan need to themselves solve. It is an intra Afghan problem, they need to work on themselves. They need to decide for themselves how they want to live and how they want to live while working towards solving it. It is up to Afghan people to take a call on the matter. Now there are threats emanating from Afghanistan that are present in the country. Terror organizations are in Afghanistan, we know it, the Afghans govt keeps saying they will not allow them to function on its territory, but we know this is not really the case in practice. The terrorist organizations which are working and functioning and carrying out activities in the territory of Afghanistan are also threatening the neighboring countries, the CIS and others. They are moving across the borders of Afghanistan. They are presenting a threat to the region as well. It is not just India and Kyrgyzstan who want peace and accord, all the countries of the region want peace, accord and consensus. We want the government of Afghanistan should be controlling all the territories which belong to them. It should not all any international terrorist organization from function from the country. They must work towards stopping drug trafficking. We know the harvest of Opium has been growing. The data shows, as compared to last year. These drugs and opium then spread and go through neighboring countries. Our security gets impacted and from the region it goes to the rest of the world. India and Kyrgyzstan despite not being immediate neighbors, are close neighbors and are equally concerned about it. I would like to repeat that the international community is not doing enough to extend the necessary aid to Afghanistan, to the common people over there. We have winter coming up and they are facing such difficult issues, with shortage of food, electricity, and nearly 23 million are starving which is a huge number and maybe this winter another 2-3 million will be added. First of all, I think it's the UN which really needs to work in this area. We can't leave the common people of Afghanistan to starvation.
WION: You used the phrase Afghan government. Do you recognise the Taliban regime? Also, India has sent humanitarian assistance to Afghan people. How do you see it?
Marat Imankulov: We have not recognised, just have others have not recognised the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. But you have to deal with the facts. They are in power, what is important for us to see is that we are able to move towards stability and security in the region. Just like the others, we have been in contact with them, India has been in touch with them. Our officials have gone to Afghanistan, and one has to deal with the facts on the ground. We certainly welcome humanitarian assistance extended by India to Afghanistan and this is very important. We are in the 21st century and you cannot leave people to suffer like that on the verge of starvation. It is just not civilized. So, Kyrgyzstan also feels the same way and was the first country in Central Asia to send humanitarian aid, we had sent food for the people. We have some ethnic Kyrgyz who live in Afghanistan. We have sent them food, medicine and basic necessities. The areas they live are in the north, in the mountains where the climate is very harsh, where 6 months it is very cold and here, I have to say that not only did the Taliban regime not obstruct the aid we were extending to them, but they also even helped us to reach the aid to the people. We certainly welcome the humanitarian aid extended by India and other countries as well. We feel everyone should do it because this is a situation where mankind is being tested as to how civilized we are. In our region this is a test for humanity, mankind's level of civilization. It is very important for us, and we have discussed this to try and bring stability in the region, to bring development in the region, all this was discussed at the India Central Asia NSAs meeting. I would like to thank India for the hospitality and warm welcome given to our delegation. We visited historic monuments, the Qutub Minar, a visit organized by the Indian side. It is so wonderfully preserved. Whole of India has so many interesting monuments all over, I would love to see them, and I think I have to come again for it. I would like to wish peace and prosperity to the people of India and look forward to continuing friendly and cooperative relations into the future.