United Nations: Asserting that regrouped Taliban and al-Qaeda constitute the primary threat to the stability of Afghanistan especially in areas bordering Pakistan, India has criticised the United Nations secretariat for "downplaying" threats from these groups and demanded its reports reflect ground realities.

"We would like to understand the reasons for such downplaying of threats to Afghanistan from terrorist groups, particularly in the South and Southeast of the country," Indian Ambassador V K Nambiar said.

Participating in the debate on situation in Afghanistan in the Security Council yesterday (Apr 6, 2004), he told the secretariat that it would not be "incorrect" to say that the steady dilution of reporting on Afghanistan over the past year or so has not always been fully consistent with the position on the ground.

"In our view, the reports of the UN Secretariat must be objective, far more discerning and reflective of the ground realties," he told the 15-member Council.

Nambiar strongly criticised the latest report by Secretary General Kofi Annan and briefing by the peacekeeping department for making "scant" reference to security threat by Taliban and al-Qaeda terrorists and "preferring" to refer to them as "extremists."

"Is it the UN's view that these groups no longer represent a threat to Afghanistan or are these reports and briefings in the Council the product of some compromise? Or did absence of any reference to these organisations imply that the work the Security Council Committee on Taliban/al-Qaeda had achieved closure, at least in Afghanistan?" Nambiar asked.

In his latest report issued on March 19, Annan says, "Insecurity in the country continues to follow well-known pattern and has shown no signs of significant improvement. Attacks by extremist elements on aid agencies, both national and international, and non-Government officials continued to occur, predominantly in Southern provinces."

Incidents of violence reported in other parts of Afghanistan, Nambiar said, are also a matter of concern.

"However, it is our expectation that the political process will subsume these local pressures and interests. The success of the Constitutional Loya Jirga is a significant indicator in this direction," he said.

Pointing out that leaders with diverse interests from all parts of the country participated in it, the Indian Ambassador said, "A democratic political process in Afghanistan would absorb in its fold the varying interests as indeed happens in all democracies throughout the world."