India has said the resurgence of the Taliban in the war-ravaged country has to be "frontally acknowledged and addressed".
Extending its "fullest support" to the goal of countering terrorist and narco-threats emanating from Afghanistan, India has said the resurgence of the Taliban in the war-ravaged country has to be "frontally acknowledged and addressed".
Prime minister's special envoy SK Lambah's comments here came on a day on which US president Barack Obama sought global cooperation in the war against terror in Afghanistan, saying "the world cannot afford the price" of a Taliban win there.
"The resurgence of the Taliban, the security situation in the southern and eastern provinces, the growing security difficulties in the north and the western provinces are factors far too corrosive not to be frontally acknowledged and addressed," Lambah said at an international conference on Afghanistan sponsored by Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
He backed SCO rotating-president Russia-hosted meet's goal of countering terrorist and narco-threats to the region emanating from the war-torn South Asian nation, while noting that Afghan government has made significant achievements.
"This is a goal to which India offers its fullest support and which in fact is an essential building block for the security and stability of the entire region," Lambah declared.
Lambah underscored that the growing drug economy has been fuelling terrorism in Afghanistan and though the UN annual survey has shown a decline in poppy cultivation in 2008, it continues unabated in the insurgency and terrorism-prone southern and south-eastern provinces.
"Any long-term and sustainable solution lies in public awareness along with an offer of an alternative system of livelihood," he said.
Talking to the Indian media here before leaving for home he noted that it was the first such endeavour by the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in which India has an observer status along with Pakistan and Iran.
"It was very well attended," he said.
Besides the SCO members and observer nations, UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon, envoys of G-8 nations including the US, representatives of NATO, EU, and Organisation of Islamic Countries attended the one-day conference.
He noted a very "non-confrontational" atmosphere at the meet, where US and Iranian officials could be seen amicably finalising the joint declaration on Afghanistan.
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