SAARC AT STAKE

The decision to cancel the SAARC foreign ministers meeting on the sidelines of the the UN General Assembly in New York due to Afghanistan's take take over by the Taliban. However, Pakistan pushes strongly for the inclusion of Afghanistan in the meeting. No country in the world has given de facto recognition to the Taliban and the matter is still to be taken in the UN. 

          Afghanistan was enrolled in the SAARC back in 2007. Since upheaval took place in Afghanistan, it created a sort of instability in the region and nearby South Asia as well. The SAARC meeting had not been in place due to tug-of-war between India and Pakistan over the years. The SAARC works by consensus and recognition of Afghanistan legitimacy is to be debated among countries. So many things are at stake like trade had never been off the ground due to tensions between two nations in the past. To get around the SAARC there was already talk of a separate grouping with 'SAARC minus 1' and seeing ongoing stalemate it seems to take shape into 'SAARC minus 2'.

        Since Pakistan supports the Taliban and is acting as its guardian does not infuse confidence among member nations. The SAARC which can play a very crucial role in the South Asian region can resolve issue with matured talks and if possible can have one to one dialogue among member Nations to present SAARC as role model in front of other multilateral platforms.