Prime minister Imran Khan deserves a lot of praise for his address to the SCO summit in the Tajikistan capital Dushanbe where he explained what he said "two stark choices" for the world community in relation to Afghanistan. Urging the world community for increased engagement with the current rulers of Afghanistan, the Taliban, he said the US-led West must not repeat the mistake that it committed following the defeat of the then Soviet Union in 1989. Afghanistan needs global support to stave off a looming humanitarian crisis. India's prime minister Narendra Modi also explained his country's position on Afghanistan at the summit. He appeared quite hostile towards Taliban for some obvious reasons. That India's approach to Afghanistan is quite different from Pakistan's is understandable.

Rasheed Karimov (Tashkent, Uzbekistan)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021