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NSAs meet in Delhi for talks on Afghanistan crisis
India’s NSA Ajit Doval chaired the eight-nation dialogue on the Afghanistan crisis in Delhi on Wednesday and said the recent developments in the country hold important implications for neighboring and regional countries.
In his address to his regional counterparts, Doval said: “It is a privilege for India to host this dialogue today. We have been keenly watching the developments in Afghanistan. These have important implications not only for the people of Afghanistan but also for its neighbors and the region.”
Doval also said that this is the time for close consultations amongst the participating nations and that greater cooperation and interaction is needed.
“I’m confident that our deliberations will be productive, useful, and will contribute to helping people of Afghanistan and enhance our collective security,” he said.
NSAs of Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are attending the high-level meeting but China and Pakistan both excused themselves.
Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran in turn called on the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) to establish an inclusive government, represented by all ethnic groups.
Turkmenistan’s Charymyrat Kakalyyevvich Amavov said that this meeting will provide the opportunity for cooperation in the region, while Uzbekistan’s Victor Makhmudov acknowledged Afghanistan is facing a crisis.
Tajikistan’s Nasrullo Rahmatjon Mahmudzoda pointed to his country’s “long border with Afghanistan” and raised concerns about cross-border drug trafficking and the humanitarian crisis.
Russia’s Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation called for “restoration of long-lasting peace”.
Kyrgyzstan’s Marat Mukanovich Imankulov, raised the issue of the threat of terrorism and said help needs to be extended to Afghanistan.
Kazakhstan’s Karim Massimov, Chairman of the Kazak National Security Committee raised the issue of the fast deteriorating socio-economic situation in the country.
As host, India chose not to invite the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), since none of the participating countries have so far officially recognized Afghanistan’s new government, although some countries, including Russia and Iran, still have an active embassy presence in the country, Indian media reports stated.
Absence of Pakistan, China
Having skipped both previous meetings because of India’s presence, Pakistan was unlikely to have attended this one, especially in light of the current state of bilateral relations, Indian media reported.
Although China had attended both previous meetings due to its own security concerns originating from Afghanistan, its absence now sends out a signal that it doesn’t want to associate with any process led by India, the Indian Express reported.
According to the report Beijing has engaged with the IEA leadership, before and after the fall of Kabul, something New Delhi has watched closely, given China’s proximity to Pakistan and potential to emerge as the IEA’s new financiers.
China’s leverage at the UN Security Council is something that the IEA will be banking on, Indian media reports stated.
President Donald Trump suspended the green card lottery program on Thursday that allowed the suspect in the Brown University and MIT shootings to come to the United States.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a post on the social platform X that, at Trump’s direction, she is ordering the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to pause the program, the Associated Press reported.
“This heinous individual should never have been allowed in our country,” she said of the suspect, Portuguese national Claudio Neves Valente.
Neves Valente, 48, is suspected in the shootings at Brown University that killed two students and wounded nine others, and the killing of an MIT professor. He was found dead Thursday evening from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, officials said.
Neves Valente had studied at Brown on a student visa beginning in 2000, according to an affidavit from a Providence police detective. In 2017, he was issued a diversity immigrant visa and months later obtained legal permanent residence status, according to the affidavit. It was not immediately clear where he was between taking a leave of absence from the school in 2001 and getting the visa in 2017.
The diversity visa program makes up to 50,000 green cards available each year by lottery to people from countries that are little represented in the U.S., many of them in Africa. The lottery was created by Congress, and the move is almost certain to invite legal challenges.
Nearly 20 million people applied for the 2025 visa lottery, with more than 131,000 selected when including spouses with the winners. After winning, they must undergo vetting to win admission to the United States. Portuguese citizens won only 38 slots.
Lottery winners are invited to apply for a green card. They are interviewed at consulates and subject to the same requirements and vetting as other green-card applicants.
Trump has long opposed the diversity visa lottery. Noem’s announcement is the latest example of using tragedy to advance immigration policy goals. After an Afghan man was identified as the gunman in a fatal attack on National Guard members in November, Trump’s administration imposed sweeping rules against immigration from Afghanistan and other counties.
While pursuing mass deportation, Trump has sought to limit or eliminate avenues to legal immigration. He has not been deterred if they are enshrined in law, like the diversity visa lottery, or the Constitution, as with a right to citizenship for anyone born on U.S. soil. The Supreme Court recently agreed to hear his challenge to birthright citizenship.
Sixty-one members of the U.S. Congress have urged the Trump administration to reverse its decision to halt immigration processing for Afghan nationals, warning that the move unfairly targets Afghan nationals following a deadly shooting involving two National Guard members.
In a letter addressed to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the lawmakers said the incident should not be used to vilify Afghans who are legally seeking entry into the United States. They stressed that Afghan applicants undergo extensive vetting involving multiple U.S. security agencies.
The letter criticized the suspension of Special Immigrant Visa processing, the termination of Temporary Protected Status for Afghanistan, and broader travel and asylum restrictions, warning that such policies endanger Afghan allies who supported U.S. forces during the war.
“Exploiting this tragedy to sow division and inflame fear will not make America safer. Abandoning those who made the courageous choice to stand beside us signals to those we may need as allies in the future that we cannot be trusted to honor our commitments. That is a mistake we cannot afford,” the group said.
The U.S. admitted nearly 200,000 Afghan nationals in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Thousands of Afghans who worked with the U.S. military and their families still wait at military bases and refugee camps around the world for a small number of SIVs.
An earthquake of magnitude 5.3 struck Afghanistan on Friday, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said.
The quake occurred at 10:09 local time at a depth of 35 km, USGS said.
Its epicentre was 25 kilometres from Nahrin district of Baghlan province in north Afghanistan.
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