‘We must fulfil our duty to help Afghanistan’s people in need’: PM Modi at UNGA

New York, Sep 25: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that the world must fulfil its duty by providing help to the people in war-torn Afghanistan where women, children and minorities are in need.

Addressing the high-level United Nations General Assembly session here, Modi said that the people of Afghanistan require help at this time.

"The women and children of Afghanistan, the minorities of Afghanistan need help. And we must fulfil our duty by providing them with this help," he said.

He said it is absolutely essential to ensure that Afghanistan's territory is not used to spread terrorism and for terrorist attacks.

"We also need to be alert and ensure that no country tries to take advantage of the delicate situation there and use it as a tool for its own selfish interests," Prime Minister Modi said without naming any country.

The UNSC resolution 2593 on Afghanistan, adopted under India's Presidency of the 15-nation Council in August, had demanded that Afghan territory not be used to threaten or attack any country or to shelter or train terrorists, or to plan or to finance terrorist acts, and reiterated the importance of combating terrorism in Afghanistan, including those individuals and entities designated pursuant to resolution 1267 (1999), and noted the Taliban's relevant commitments.

The Taliban, which took control of Kabul on August 15, has put in place a hardline interim 33-member Cabinet that has no women and includes UN-designated terrorists. The Taliban last ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.

The Taliban swept across Afghanistan last month, seizing control of almost all key towns and cities in the backdrop of withdrawal of the US forces that began on May 1. On August 15, the capital city of Kabul fell to the insurgents.

The Taliban claimed victory over opposition forces in the last holdout province of Panjshir on September 6, completing their takeover of Afghanistan three weeks after capturing Kabul.