US deputy secretary Wendy Sherman said Taliban needs to provide an inclusive government while Beijing should follow global rules. This signalled a strong convergence on China and preparedness to keep Indians concerns over Afghanistan in mind.
Sherman said, “We will always have India’s security front and centre in our considerations of how the US proceeds.”
In one of the clearest enunciations of US policy towards China, she said the US would compete, challenge and cooperate with China in various fields. “We have a very complex relationship with China. And it falls into three pathways. One is, we know that China will be a major competitor with the US in economics, emerging tech and in future. We’re happy to compete with China, as long as there is a level playing field…Let’s make sure that everybody’s living by the rules of the road.”
Sherman held meetings with foreign secretary Harsh Shringla and also called on NSA Ajit Doval along with foreign minister S Jaishankar. Later she said that Taliban “must create an inclusive government, ensure that Afghanistan not be a safe haven for terrorists, allow safe travel of people who wish to relocate and subscribe to human rights, including rights of women, girls and minorities.”
She said, “We must help the Afghan people that they are suffering terribly. We don’t believe that now is the time to provide money directly to Taliban or to the interim government. The US issued a general license from our treasury department, so that any country providing humanitarian assistance wouldn’t be sanctioned by US government. The president believed…after 20 years, we needed to step aside and make sure that we took our resources and use them in different ways in terms of our military. But he didn’t in any way withdraw from our interest in the security of this region, in the security of India, and of making sure that terrorism does not grow in any part of the world,” she added.
