On Thursday, November 28 2019, the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies (AISS) hosted H.E. Ambassador Vinay Kumar, Ambassador of Republic India to Afghanistan, for a speech on ‘the Indian perspective on the Afghan peace process’, in which government officials, experts, university academics, foreign diplomats members of Civil Society, and media participated. The program was moderated by Ferdaws Kawish, Editor-in-Chief of Hashte Subh Daily Newspaper.
Amb. Vinay Kumar started his speech with anecdotes from the millennium-old historical ties between Afghanistan and India. He said that whatever India has and envisions for itself in terms of sovereignty and economic prosperity, it envisions it for Afghanistan. He said that India strengthens capacity and government institutions in Afghanistan.
Amb. Kumar spoke about the projects India has completed in its partnership in Afghanistan. He said that India has committed 3 billion dollars for Afghanistan development, from which 2 billion dollars has already been spent. Besides major highways, parliament building, and Salma dam, India has contributed 350 projects throughout Afghanistan, all through government to empower people.
Amb. Kumar said that India supports an inclusive peace process in which Afghans have control, leadership and ownership of how to reconcile. He said that sustainable peace in Afghanistan provides further opportunity for strengthening cooperation between India and Afghanistan. He said that India advocates and works for cessation of terrorism and termination of terror infrastructure in Afghanistan. Regarding the ongoing peace efforts by U.S. Government, Amb. Kumar said that India has serious dialogue with the U.S. regarding peace in Afghanistan and that India supports these efforts.
The program ended with an interactive Q&A engagement between the speaker and the audience of the program.