Monitoring Desk: Noam Chomsky who is known for his visionary futuristic approach believes that the United States and India should engage with the Taliban by overcoming differences with other regional powers.
While speaking at a webinar titled “20 Years After 9/11: Impact on South Asia and South Asians” organized by the recently launched South Asia Peace Action Network, Sapan, Chomsky talked about connecting regional stakeholders and stated that this is a collective responsibility to help Afghan people.
It is pertinent to mention that only the United States and India are still not ready to work with the interim government of the Taliban while United Nations, European Union, China, Russia, Central Asian states, Turkey, Pakistan, and other regional and international stakeholders are either helping or have shown their consent to help Afghanistan to avoid possible humanitarian crises in Afghanistan.
Within Indian media, there are voices that India is a big loser in Afghanistan and had been supporting the corrupt regime of former President Ashraf Ghani while government-allied Indian media is still busy in a propaganda campaign against Taliban and Pakistan and was exposed when it used video games material to establish that Pakistan helped Taliban to capture Panjshir Valley.
Chomsky urged the Taliban to ensure respect for human rights. Chomsky advocated pressuring Afghans to shift the economy from opium cultivation to mineral resources, encouraging trade, development, and their integration into the region and stated that such action of Taliban can’t be made through sanctions”.
It is pertinent to mention that Chomsky had been critical of American wars in the Middle East and in Afghanistan and he was a rear voice after 9/11 for criticizing the US invasion of Afghanistan.
Initiated in March 2021, Sapan is a coalition of organizations and individuals who advocate peace, justice, democracy, and human rights in South Asia, working towards a visa-free South Asia.
