India, Russia call for stronger UN sanctions against Afghan Taliban

NEW DELHI, Nov 21 (AFP) - India and Russia called Tuesday for stronger sanctions against Afghanistan's Taliban regime unless it snapped links with international terrorist groups.

A joint statement issued at the end of the first meeting of the Indo-Russian Joint Working Group on Afghanistan noted that Taliban-controlled areas had become centres for training and sheltering international terrorists.

The statement regretted that the Taliban had "consistently ignored" the appeals of the international community to break their links with terrorist groups.

"Both sides called on the Taliban to respect the wishes of the international community and abandon the path of violence, failing which they called for the strengthening of the United Nations sanction regime against the Taliban."

The statement also highlighted the large-scale opium production in Taliban-controlled areas, and reiterated India and Russia's commitment to cooperating in the fight against global drug-trafficking.

"The two sides agreed that there was no possibility of a military solution of the civil conflict and that the path to return to peace and reconstruction of the country was through negotiations," the statement said.