Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Communist Party of India have issued the following joint statement on August 18

THE United States has suffered a humiliating defeat in Afghanistan. Twenty years after the toppling of the then Taliban regime, the Taliban are back in power. The collapse of the Ashraf Ghani led government and the National Army shows the hollowness of the nature of the State set up by the US and its NATO allies.

The Afghan policy of the Indian government had been blindly following the Americans and this had resulted in its isolation in the region and is hence left with few options.

The earlier Taliban government of the 1990s was marked by an extreme fundamentalist approach, which was disastrous for women, girl children and it suppressed ethnic minorities.

It is imperative that the new set-up controlled by the Taliban give due regard to the rights of women and acknowledge the rights of ethnic minorities.

The international community’s concern that Afghanistan should not become a haven for terrorist groups like the Islamic State and the Al Qaeda was collectively expressed by the United Nations Security Council in its emergency meeting on Afghanistan on August 16.

India must work closely with major regional powers to see that the Afghan people are able to live in a peaceful and stable environment. Indian government should immediately work towards safe evacuation of all stranded Indian citizens in Afghanistan.