'You speak about Ukraine, I remember what happened in Afghanistan', EAM Jaishankar's dig at West

After drawing flak for not condemning Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, India on Tuesday turned the table on Europe and the United States, slamming them for ignoring China’s belligerence in Asia for years and for clinching a deal with the Taliban "by throwing the common people of Afghanistan under the bus".

“You spoke about Ukraine. I remember, less than a year ago, what happened in Afghanistan, where an entire civil society was thrown under the bus by the world," External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said at the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi, in response to a question from Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt.

He was apparently referring to the deal the US inked with the Taliban in February 2020 after fighting it for two decades and the consequent withdrawal of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) from Afghanistan, leaving the people of the war-torn country under the regressive rule of the Sunni Islamist militia that returned to power in August 2021.

“When the rules-based order was under challenge in Asia (due to aggression by China), the advice we got from Europe is (to) do more trade (with China)”, added Jaishankar.

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New Delhi has been alleging that the US, the United Kingdom and the other western nations had for years overlooked growing belligerence of China, not only against India, but also against other nations in the Indo-Pacific region.

His comment came a day after the European Commission’s President Ursula Von der Leyen, while delivering the keynote address at the Raisina Dialogue, subtly nudged India to drop its policy of avoiding criticism of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and warned it about the growing ties between the former Soviet Union nation and China.

India called for dialogue and diplomacy to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict. It, however, did not join the US and other western nations to directly condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin for ordering the launch of military operations in the East European nation.

New Delhi took a cautious approach in view of India's decades-old strategic partnership with Russia and its dependence on the former Soviet Union nation for military hardware.

India, however, drew flak in the US and Europe for its refusal to take a tough stand against Russia.

The former Prime Minister of Sweden, Carl Bildt, too asked Jaishankar on Tuesday what conclusion China could draw from Russia’s war against Ukraine and whether the communist country could take advantage of the situation and be encouraged to step up its belligerence in Asia.

Also read: India's Russian oil purchases since Ukraine invasion more than double 2021 total

“This has not been an easy part of the world for the last decade and this is a part of the world where boundaries have not been settled, where terrorism is still practised, often sponsored by states,” Jaishankar said, adding: “This is a part of the world where the rules-based order has been under continuous stress for more than a decade and I think it is important for the rest of the world, outside Asia, to recognise that today”.

New Delhi apparently sought to drive home the point that what Europe was late in taking note of was that China had already been posing challenge to the rules-based order in Asia, not only by its aggression along the disputed boundary with India, but also in the South China Sea, the East China Sea and the Taiwan Strait as well as elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific region.

"Things have been happening in Asia for the last 10 years. Europe may not have looked at it. So this could be a wake-up call for Europe, not just in Europe, it could be a wake-up call for Europe to also look at Asia," he said.

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