Bangladesh waiting to see a permanent govt in Afghanistan

Bangladesh is waiting to see a permanent government in Afghanistan without hurriedly reaching a decision whether it will welcome the interim government or not, said State Minister for Foreign Affair M Shahriar Alam.

“We’re still observing the situation very closely. Our focus still remains on peace and stability fully free from any war,” he told reporters at his office on Wednesday.

The state minister said they came to know about the formation of an interim government and they are not going to reach a decision on whether Bangladesh will welcome it or not. “We don’t want to do anything hurriedly.”

He said there are some ideological areas that Bangladesh will not be compromising and noted that they are not in a hurry but are closely observing the development.

The Taliban on Tuesday announced an all-male interim government for Afghanistan.

The state minister thanked all concerned as some Bangladesh nationals have been able to return home.

He said still there are 10 Bangladesh nationals and seven of them are willing to stay back there as they are finding some sort of comfort there.

The state minister laid emphasis on the safety of all nationals who are still staying in Afghanistan.

Responding to a question, he said if the United Nations gets engaged with the Taliban or the European Union gets involved in providing economic support, Bangladesh will extend its support to that end. “We’re working on it.”

Earlier in an interview with BBC Bangla, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen said Bangladesh will decide its policy towards Afghanistan independently noting that what India or Pakistan is doing is not that much important to Bangladesh.

“Bangladesh always decides its foreign policy in the interest of its own very independently,” he said, making it clear that the decision of Bangladesh is not linked with the decision of any other country.

The foreign minister said Bangladesh always believes in a people’s government that comes through a political and democratic process and Bangladesh always extends support to such a government where people’s desire is reflected.

“We’ll extend support if people’s desire is reflected in the new Afghan government. At this moment, we don’t know as we’re yet to understand the situation in Afghanistan,” Momen said things will depend on how the new Afghan government acts and what policy it adopts after formulation of the government.

The foreign minister, however, said there is a sense to get about the people in Afghanistan as what they want.