Bangladesh’s position on Afghanistan won’t be influenced by others: foreign minister

Bangladesh’s position on Afghanistan will not be influenced by the decisions of others like India or Pakistan as the war-torn country is going through radical changes, AK Abdul Momen has said.

During his recent visit to three European countries, he faced questions on the issue from leaders and the media, the foreign minister said at a media briefing in Dhaka on Thursday.

“Some of them, including the BBC, asked me whether we'll follow India or Pakistan. We said it’s not our job to see what the others do,” Momen said as the Taliban formed an interim government two days ago after the takeover of Afghanistan following the withdrawal of US-led forces.    

“Everyone wanted to know our position, whether we'll join their bandwagon. We said we're still observing the Afghan issue.

“They asked if we'll recognise a new government (of Afghanistan). We said we'll first watch the situation, their (new Afghan government’s) attitude, policies and projects before taking a decision.”     

He reiterated Bangladesh will work with Afghanistan, a South Asian neighbour, if their government is backed by the majority of the population.

“We want Afghanistan’s development and we believe in democracy. If their government is established on the mandate of the majority of the population, we should encourage and welcome them.”

Citing that Afghanistan was also a member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation or SAARC, Momen said Bangladesh has “historic ties” with Afghanistan.

“But some people of our country got involved in terrorist activities there during the last Taliban regime. We've a zero tolerance policy towards terrorism. We'll never harbour any terrorist.”

Momen left Dhaka on Aug 30 to visit the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. He returned home on Thursday morning.  

Besides joining meetings on climate change, he met UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, Alok Sharma, president of the UN’s climate summit COP 26 and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet.

UK RED-LISTING ‘DISCRIMINATORY’

Britain put Bangladesh on a list of countries with high coronavirus case rates on Apr 9 when the latter was hit by a second wave of infections. As of Thursday, there were 62 countries on the list.

The UK does not allow in foreigners from these countries now. British citizens can enter the UK from these countries, but they have to be in quarantine for 10 days upon arrival.

“They need to submit 2,285 pounds first for the quarantine. This is discriminatory,” Momen said.   

“I’ve said the members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords should talk about it. Because it’s wrong. Your (citizens) are facing problem because of this. It’s unfortunate. You should be free from discrimination. We don’t expect this from the British.”

The foreign minister said Britain should exclude Bangladesh from the list considering that its infection rate dropping to as low as 9.82 percent, and the 7,000 British-Bangladeshis are stranded in Bangladesh.

He said he raised the issue in meetings with Bangladeshi-origin MPs of the British Parliament Rushanara Ali and Apsana Begum.