bose
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Are you from the land of Ahmed Shah Masood ??
Afghanistan - News & Discussions
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Ash
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Insight - As Afghanistan endgame looms, a deadly edge to India-Pakistan rivalry
By Frank Jack Daniel and Sanjeev Miglani
BARAMULLA/NEW DELHI, India (Reuters) - Pakistan-based militants are preparing to take on India across the subcontinent once Western troops leave Afghanistan next year, several sources say, raising the risk of a dramatic spike in tensions between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan.
Intelligence source in India believe that a botched suicide bombing of an Indian consulate in Afghanistan, which was followed within days last week by a lethal cross-border ambush on Indian soldiers in disputed Kashmir, suggest that the new campaign by Islamic militants may already be underway.
Members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant outfit in Pakistan, the group blamed for the 2008 commando-style raid on Mumbai that killed 166 people, told Reuters they were preparing to take the fight to India once again, this time across the region.
And a U.S. counter-terrorism official, referring to the attack in Afghanistan, said "LeT has long pursued Indian targets, so it would be natural for the group to plot against them in its own backyard".
Given the quiet backing - or at least blind eye - that many militant groups enjoy from Pakistan's shadowy intelligence services, tensions from a new militant campaign are bound to spill over. Adding to the volatility, the two nations' armies are trading mortar and gunfire across the heavily militarised frontier that divides Kashmir, and accusing each other of killing troops.
Hindu-majority India and Islamic Pakistan have fought three wars since independence in 1947 and came close to a fourth in 1999. The tension now brewing may not escalate into open hostilities, but it could thwart efforts to forge a lasting peace and open trade between two countries that make up a quarter of the world's population.
"With the Americans leaving Afghanistan, the restraint on the Pakistani security/jihadi establishment is going too," said a former top official at India's Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), the external intelligence arm.
"We are concerned about 2014 in either scenario. If the jihadis (Islamist militants) claim success in Afghanistan, they could turn their attention to us. Equally, if they fail, they will attack in wrath."
But Pakistan, which has a border with India to the east and with Afghanistan to the west, has concerns of its own. It sees India's expansive diplomacy in Afghanistan as a ploy to disrupt it from the rear as it battles its own deadly Islamist militancy and separatist forces. Vying for influence in a post-2014 Afghanistan, it worries about India's assistance to the Afghan army, heightening a sense of encirclement.
"I'm shocked by these allegations. Pakistan has its own insurgency to deal with. It has no appetite for confrontations abroad," said a Pakistani foreign ministry official referring to the Indian charges of stirring trouble in Afghanistan and on the Kashmir border.
"If anything, we are looking at our mistakes from the past very critically. These accusations are baseless. India needs to act with more maturity and avoid this sort of propaganda."
Both U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry spoke during visits to India recently of the need for New Delhi and Islamabad to resume their stalled peace process as the region heads into a period of uncertainty.
FULL-SCALE JIHAD
At the core of that uncertainty is the pullback of militants from Afghanistan as U.S. forces head home.
Hafiz Sayeed, founder of the LeT, has left no doubt that India's side of Kashmir will become a target, telling an Indian weekly recently: "Full-scale armed Jihad (holy war) will begin soon in Kashmir after American forces withdraw from Afghanistan."
The retreat of Soviet forces from Afghanistan in 1989 brought a wave of guerrillas into Kashmir to fight India's rule there.
This time the additional risk will be the rivalry between India and Pakistan over Afghanistan itself, one that threatens to become as toxic as the 60-year dispute in Kashmir. The LeT has said it is fighting Indian forces in Afghanistan as well.
A senior LeT source in Pakistan told Reuters: "It is correct that the LeT cooperates with the Afghan Taliban (insurgents) when there is a question of attacking Indian interests."
Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated last week after five Indian soldiers were killed close to the de facto border in Kashmir. India says Pakistani special forces joined militants to ambush a night patrol, a charge Pakistan denies.
Just days earlier, three men drove an explosives-laden car towards India's consulate in the Afghan city of Jalalabad, near the border with Pakistan. The blast missed its target and killed nine civilians, six of them young Islamic scholars in a mosque.
It is too early to say conclusively who was behind these and other attacks, but Indian and Afghan officials see in them the handiwork of the LeT and its allies. Such groups have doubled their attempts to cross into Indian-controlled Kashmir this year, according to Indian defence ministry statistics.
The result has been the first increase in Kashmir militant violence since a 2003 ceasefire on the border, which led to a decline in attacks, partly because Pakistan and the jihadi groups were preoccupied with Afghanistan during this time.
In the first eight months of this year, 103 casualties in militant-related violence were recorded in Indian Kashmir, compared to 57 in the same period of 2012, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, a think tank.
$10 MILLION BOUNTY
LeT was founded in 1990 in eastern Afghanistan by Sayeed, a Pakistani Islamic scholar whom India accuses of masterminding the rampage in Mumbai. The United States placed a $10 million bounty on his head for his alleged role in the attack, but he remains a free man in Pakistan, where he preached to thousands last week.
Although the group has global ambitions, LeT's primary aim is to end India's rule in Muslim-majority Kashmir. India and Pakistan each control a part of the heavily militarised land of lakes and orchards once known as "paradise on earth" and both assert claims over the whole Himalayan territory.
LeT has been working this year with several other Islamist outfits to train and push more Pakistani militants over the heavily guarded border into India's side, a veteran LeT fighter told Reuters in Pakistan.
"Jihad is being stimulated and various militant outfits are cooperating with each other under the platform of the United Jihad Council," said the veteran, referring to an umbrella body.
Pakistan's new prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, came to power in May vowing to improve ties with India and - until last week's flare-up along the Kashmir border - the two sides looked set to resume talks. Their prime ministers were planning to meet on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York next month.
The trouble is, says a retired senior Pakistani diplomat, there are "spoilers" on both sides who are not interested in seeing a rapprochement. In Pakistan, these include the militant groups, which he said operate independently.
"They don't seem to be able to control other non-government actors like the LeT. So that's the biggest worry," he said.
The Pakistan military's refusal to dismantle groups such as LeT infuriates New Delhi and fuels hawkish demands for the kind of tough action that would risk escalation.
The senior LeT source in Pakistan denied the group was involved in the failed consulate strike in Afghanistan, but officials in New Delhi - citing intelligence intercepts - said they had been forewarned about LeT-trained hit squads plotting the attack.
Pakistan, whose intelligence agency is regularly accused of quietly supporting Afghan Taliban insurgents, says India's aid and missions are cover for carrying out covert operations there.
"Jalalabad was a message from the ISI in a long line of such messages," said an Indian intelligence official, referring to Pakistan's spy agency, the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).
TIGHT SECURITY
Further east, on the line dividing Kashmir between Pakistan and India, ceasefire violations are up 80 percent compared to last year, according to India. On Friday night, the two armies exchanged 7,000 rounds of mortar and gunfire, according to Indian media.
Anti-Indian sentiment in Kashmir provides fertile ground for groups seeking to revive the militancy that roiled the region through the 1990s, but New Delhi has two things in its favour.
First, despite the uptick, violence in the state is still close to the record low it reached last year. Second, the Indian army has to a large extent sealed the rugged, fenced and land-mined border that divides Kashmir, leaving militants with a critically small number of cadres and weapons.
"We cannot send jihadists into India in big numbers like in the past because of tight security at the Indian side," the LeT source in Pakistan said.
Speaking on the lawn of his official bungalow in the restive Indian town of Baramulla, J.P. Singh, the police chief for northern border operations, told Reuters the army and police had stopped most attempted militant crossings this year.
Still, India is preparing for an influx.
"(Pakistan's) agents and their protégés, the militants, are getting disengaged from the Afghan border and they have nowhere else to keep them and engage them, other than to push them to Kashmir," Singh said. "Their presence inside Pakistan is dangerous for the internal security of Pakistan."
SHARENET - Your Key To Investing on The JSE Securities Exchange - South Africa
By Frank Jack Daniel and Sanjeev Miglani
BARAMULLA/NEW DELHI, India (Reuters) - Pakistan-based militants are preparing to take on India across the subcontinent once Western troops leave Afghanistan next year, several sources say, raising the risk of a dramatic spike in tensions between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan.
Intelligence source in India believe that a botched suicide bombing of an Indian consulate in Afghanistan, which was followed within days last week by a lethal cross-border ambush on Indian soldiers in disputed Kashmir, suggest that the new campaign by Islamic militants may already be underway.
Members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant outfit in Pakistan, the group blamed for the 2008 commando-style raid on Mumbai that killed 166 people, told Reuters they were preparing to take the fight to India once again, this time across the region.
And a U.S. counter-terrorism official, referring to the attack in Afghanistan, said "LeT has long pursued Indian targets, so it would be natural for the group to plot against them in its own backyard".
Given the quiet backing - or at least blind eye - that many militant groups enjoy from Pakistan's shadowy intelligence services, tensions from a new militant campaign are bound to spill over. Adding to the volatility, the two nations' armies are trading mortar and gunfire across the heavily militarised frontier that divides Kashmir, and accusing each other of killing troops.
Hindu-majority India and Islamic Pakistan have fought three wars since independence in 1947 and came close to a fourth in 1999. The tension now brewing may not escalate into open hostilities, but it could thwart efforts to forge a lasting peace and open trade between two countries that make up a quarter of the world's population.
"With the Americans leaving Afghanistan, the restraint on the Pakistani security/jihadi establishment is going too," said a former top official at India's Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), the external intelligence arm.
"We are concerned about 2014 in either scenario. If the jihadis (Islamist militants) claim success in Afghanistan, they could turn their attention to us. Equally, if they fail, they will attack in wrath."
But Pakistan, which has a border with India to the east and with Afghanistan to the west, has concerns of its own. It sees India's expansive diplomacy in Afghanistan as a ploy to disrupt it from the rear as it battles its own deadly Islamist militancy and separatist forces. Vying for influence in a post-2014 Afghanistan, it worries about India's assistance to the Afghan army, heightening a sense of encirclement.
"I'm shocked by these allegations. Pakistan has its own insurgency to deal with. It has no appetite for confrontations abroad," said a Pakistani foreign ministry official referring to the Indian charges of stirring trouble in Afghanistan and on the Kashmir border.
"If anything, we are looking at our mistakes from the past very critically. These accusations are baseless. India needs to act with more maturity and avoid this sort of propaganda."
Both U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry spoke during visits to India recently of the need for New Delhi and Islamabad to resume their stalled peace process as the region heads into a period of uncertainty.
FULL-SCALE JIHAD
At the core of that uncertainty is the pullback of militants from Afghanistan as U.S. forces head home.
Hafiz Sayeed, founder of the LeT, has left no doubt that India's side of Kashmir will become a target, telling an Indian weekly recently: "Full-scale armed Jihad (holy war) will begin soon in Kashmir after American forces withdraw from Afghanistan."
The retreat of Soviet forces from Afghanistan in 1989 brought a wave of guerrillas into Kashmir to fight India's rule there.
This time the additional risk will be the rivalry between India and Pakistan over Afghanistan itself, one that threatens to become as toxic as the 60-year dispute in Kashmir. The LeT has said it is fighting Indian forces in Afghanistan as well.
A senior LeT source in Pakistan told Reuters: "It is correct that the LeT cooperates with the Afghan Taliban (insurgents) when there is a question of attacking Indian interests."
Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated last week after five Indian soldiers were killed close to the de facto border in Kashmir. India says Pakistani special forces joined militants to ambush a night patrol, a charge Pakistan denies.
Just days earlier, three men drove an explosives-laden car towards India's consulate in the Afghan city of Jalalabad, near the border with Pakistan. The blast missed its target and killed nine civilians, six of them young Islamic scholars in a mosque.
It is too early to say conclusively who was behind these and other attacks, but Indian and Afghan officials see in them the handiwork of the LeT and its allies. Such groups have doubled their attempts to cross into Indian-controlled Kashmir this year, according to Indian defence ministry statistics.
The result has been the first increase in Kashmir militant violence since a 2003 ceasefire on the border, which led to a decline in attacks, partly because Pakistan and the jihadi groups were preoccupied with Afghanistan during this time.
In the first eight months of this year, 103 casualties in militant-related violence were recorded in Indian Kashmir, compared to 57 in the same period of 2012, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, a think tank.
$10 MILLION BOUNTY
LeT was founded in 1990 in eastern Afghanistan by Sayeed, a Pakistani Islamic scholar whom India accuses of masterminding the rampage in Mumbai. The United States placed a $10 million bounty on his head for his alleged role in the attack, but he remains a free man in Pakistan, where he preached to thousands last week.
Although the group has global ambitions, LeT's primary aim is to end India's rule in Muslim-majority Kashmir. India and Pakistan each control a part of the heavily militarised land of lakes and orchards once known as "paradise on earth" and both assert claims over the whole Himalayan territory.
LeT has been working this year with several other Islamist outfits to train and push more Pakistani militants over the heavily guarded border into India's side, a veteran LeT fighter told Reuters in Pakistan.
"Jihad is being stimulated and various militant outfits are cooperating with each other under the platform of the United Jihad Council," said the veteran, referring to an umbrella body.
Pakistan's new prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, came to power in May vowing to improve ties with India and - until last week's flare-up along the Kashmir border - the two sides looked set to resume talks. Their prime ministers were planning to meet on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York next month.
The trouble is, says a retired senior Pakistani diplomat, there are "spoilers" on both sides who are not interested in seeing a rapprochement. In Pakistan, these include the militant groups, which he said operate independently.
"They don't seem to be able to control other non-government actors like the LeT. So that's the biggest worry," he said.
The Pakistan military's refusal to dismantle groups such as LeT infuriates New Delhi and fuels hawkish demands for the kind of tough action that would risk escalation.
The senior LeT source in Pakistan denied the group was involved in the failed consulate strike in Afghanistan, but officials in New Delhi - citing intelligence intercepts - said they had been forewarned about LeT-trained hit squads plotting the attack.
Pakistan, whose intelligence agency is regularly accused of quietly supporting Afghan Taliban insurgents, says India's aid and missions are cover for carrying out covert operations there.
"Jalalabad was a message from the ISI in a long line of such messages," said an Indian intelligence official, referring to Pakistan's spy agency, the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).
TIGHT SECURITY
Further east, on the line dividing Kashmir between Pakistan and India, ceasefire violations are up 80 percent compared to last year, according to India. On Friday night, the two armies exchanged 7,000 rounds of mortar and gunfire, according to Indian media.
Anti-Indian sentiment in Kashmir provides fertile ground for groups seeking to revive the militancy that roiled the region through the 1990s, but New Delhi has two things in its favour.
First, despite the uptick, violence in the state is still close to the record low it reached last year. Second, the Indian army has to a large extent sealed the rugged, fenced and land-mined border that divides Kashmir, leaving militants with a critically small number of cadres and weapons.
"We cannot send jihadists into India in big numbers like in the past because of tight security at the Indian side," the LeT source in Pakistan said.
Speaking on the lawn of his official bungalow in the restive Indian town of Baramulla, J.P. Singh, the police chief for northern border operations, told Reuters the army and police had stopped most attempted militant crossings this year.
Still, India is preparing for an influx.
"(Pakistan's) agents and their protégés, the militants, are getting disengaged from the Afghan border and they have nowhere else to keep them and engage them, other than to push them to Kashmir," Singh said. "Their presence inside Pakistan is dangerous for the internal security of Pakistan."
SHARENET - Your Key To Investing on The JSE Securities Exchange - South Africa
I was born in Kabul, not Panjshir :thumb:
datguy79
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Any influx of militants to Indian Kashmir will be target practice for the Indians. Only Karzai is dumb enough to have an open border with Pakistan.
In regards to the consular attack, there is a reason why all the attacks on consulates have failed. The security measures are intense. It doesn't matter if there are 2 militants or 100.
In regards to the consular attack, there is a reason why all the attacks on consulates have failed. The security measures are intense. It doesn't matter if there are 2 militants or 100.
nrupatunga
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@datguy79 @MLRS is karzai a modern day shah shuja?? There are lot of similarities between shah shuja and karzai. Both belong to same clan of pathans (popalzais/sadozais). Both had to placed on throne by western powers. Both failed to handle situations once in power. And with foreign armies going away,similar to shah shuja will karzai also loose his power
Whereas mullah omar certainly wants to emulate dost mohammed khan and wants model himself on those lines, Again lots of similarities between these two. Both are same clan of pathans (barakzais), both had captured/won throne from popalzai/sadozai before being ousted by western led armies. Both led a successful resistance movement.
Whereas mullah omar certainly wants to emulate dost mohammed khan and wants model himself on those lines, Again lots of similarities between these two. Both are same clan of pathans (barakzais), both had captured/won throne from popalzai/sadozai before being ousted by western led armies. Both led a successful resistance movement.
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nrupatunga
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In post #18 of book review thread the author mentions this conversation he had with few tribal leaders.
3 Chinese citizens killed, 2 missing in Afghanistan: Chinese embassy
As mentioned by that tribal leader has the "action" begun on the chinese???
3 Chinese citizens killed, 2 missing in Afghanistan: Chinese embassy
SamwiseTheBrave
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I think its high time that the Indian and Afghan militaries start holding "Joint Counter-terrorism exercises" so that both the nations benefit from interoperability against "fundamentalist elements" who try to infiltrate their borders.The Hammer and the Anvil can be used to beat the hell out of tanzeems promoting radical jihad. Good to hear that the ANA will now be supported by a robust Air Force (drones and C-130`s) and it looks like the US is finally putting its money where its mouth is !US to deliver 24 C-130 aircraft to Afghan Air Force: MOD
By GHANIZADA - Sat Aug 10, 8:25 pm
Afghan defense officials on Saturday announced that the Air Force of Afghanistan will soon receive fighter and drone aircraft from the United States of America, in a bid to boost the capabilities of the Afghan security forces.
The defense officials also said that the Afghan Air Force provided satisfactory close air support to ground forces during the "Simurgh" military operations in eastern Afghanistan Afghanistan.
Deputy spokesman for the ministry of defense of Afghanistan, Dawlat Waziri quoted by Deutsche Welle said that Afghan security forces managed to take full control of Azra district from Taliban militants without the support of coalition security forces.
Mr. Waziri further added that militants suffered heavy casualties during the operations and several of them were also arrested.
He also praised Afghan air force for their effective close air support to Afghan national army and Afghan national police during the operations, despite the air force of Afghanistan still require more training and equipment.
According to Dawlat waziri, United States will provide 24 C-130 aircraft to Afghan Air Force in the near future, besides the purchase of 20 super Tucano aircraft which have already been purchased and will be delivered to the air force.
Dawlat Waziri said that United States will also provide small drones to Afghan air force, which will be used by Afghan army for reconnaissance missions.
I believe the current conflict is a continuation of the civil war, between pro/anti Taliban forces. It can not be compared to Anglo Afghan wars.
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datguy79
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This will just end up splitting the Pashtun vote, paving the way for someone like Atmar with Noor to swoop in for the presidency.
What do you think of technocrats like Ashraf Ghani winning the presidency?
datguy79
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We need more technocrats in every level of government. The two major knocks against Ghani is that he is from Logar and he doesn't really have an established base.
Personally, I think Sayyaf will not get close to the presidency. Whoever turns out to be his opponent just has to publicly accuse him of assisting in killing Massoud and he will be finished; too much dirty laundry against him already.
datguy79
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This is a week old news but still important. Largest independent operation by Afghans thus far:
ANSF Successfully Clears Azra of Insurgents
The Afghan Ministry of Defense (MoD) announced on Friday that the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) conducted a successful military operation, codename "Simorgh," in the Azra district of Logar province clearing the area of entrenched insurgents. The MoD heralded the operation as a critical victory that signaled the capabilities of the Afghan forces.
Based on a statement released by the MoD, more than 200 foreign militants, mainly Pakistani nationals, were killed in the operation. The Afghan defense officials said that the insurgents were planning and launching attacks on Kabul, as well as threatening transportation traffic in the nearby area.
According to MoD reports, the Chechen and Pakistani militants in the area were receiving support from al-Qaeda collaborators in the orchestration of their attacks.
The MoD claimed operation "Simorgh" to be one of the largest and most important security operations conducted successfully by the ANSF to date. It was conducted jointly by four battalions of the Afghan National Army (ANA), 300 police personnel, border police and the Afghan Air Force (AFA).
"The Afghan forces conducted the operation by their own and completed it successfully, the enemies were causing major security threats to the ANSF," said Gen. Mohammad Nabi Azimi, spokesman for the MoD.
Based on the figures provided by the MoD, at least 200 insurgents were killed in the operation while a total of 11 Afghan soldiers lost their lives.
The MoD thanked local residents for their support of the ANSF throughout the duration of the operation. "Local people strongly supported the operation and they showed appreciation for the capabilities of the Afghan forces by throwing leaves on them instead of flowers."
Some pictures of the air force during the operation:
ANSF Successfully Clears Azra of Insurgents
The Afghan Ministry of Defense (MoD) announced on Friday that the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) conducted a successful military operation, codename "Simorgh," in the Azra district of Logar province clearing the area of entrenched insurgents. The MoD heralded the operation as a critical victory that signaled the capabilities of the Afghan forces.
Based on a statement released by the MoD, more than 200 foreign militants, mainly Pakistani nationals, were killed in the operation. The Afghan defense officials said that the insurgents were planning and launching attacks on Kabul, as well as threatening transportation traffic in the nearby area.
According to MoD reports, the Chechen and Pakistani militants in the area were receiving support from al-Qaeda collaborators in the orchestration of their attacks.
The MoD claimed operation "Simorgh" to be one of the largest and most important security operations conducted successfully by the ANSF to date. It was conducted jointly by four battalions of the Afghan National Army (ANA), 300 police personnel, border police and the Afghan Air Force (AFA).
"The Afghan forces conducted the operation by their own and completed it successfully, the enemies were causing major security threats to the ANSF," said Gen. Mohammad Nabi Azimi, spokesman for the MoD.
Based on the figures provided by the MoD, at least 200 insurgents were killed in the operation while a total of 11 Afghan soldiers lost their lives.
The MoD thanked local residents for their support of the ANSF throughout the duration of the operation. "Local people strongly supported the operation and they showed appreciation for the capabilities of the Afghan forces by throwing leaves on them instead of flowers."
Some pictures of the air force during the operation:
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In a country like Afghanistan, I'd say technocrats are probably better particularly in a situation of widespread conservatism and stark illiteracy where popularly elected leaders may not lead to the "best' possible long-run outcomes. But across the board, I don't know if technocrats always make sense. In a country like India where the bureaucracy is entrenched and actually does most of the heavy lifting our experience has found that technocrats, who usually demur anything extraordinarily risky in favor of an academic-quality of research and conservative tweaks in public policy, are not often ideal in a nation where you often have to make strong charismatic statements or take strong policy decisions in order to retain public confidence in the govt. For Afghanistan though, at this time, I feel a technocratic government, as long as it's able to see the geopolitical situation from both an empirical and long-run perspective, would do the Afghan people a world of good.
nrupatunga
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Wiki on Sayyaf
Wiki says he has close links with wahabbi groups, during his fight against soviet forces, he was generously funded by saudis. It also mentions that post war, he retained his camps where he trained recruits to wage jihad in various places philippines, chechnya, bosnia etc. He is also supposed to have "helped" arab assasins of ahmed shah massoud. If he is elected, then it means a back-door entry for taliban.
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The future of Afghanistan lies in the hands of the Afghans. If the Afghans so desire, we should help them with whatever help they want and need.
May they live long and prosper.
May they live long and prosper.
IBSA
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Sovereign, Independent Afghanistan is in India's Strategic Interest: Mukherjee
August 22, 2013
NEW DELHI - The Indian President, Pranab Mukherjee, on Wednesday said that a sovereign and independent Afghanistan was in India's strategic interest.
"India considers a sovereign, independent, prosperous and democratic Afghanistan to be in India's strategic interest," Mukherjee said while welcoming second Vice President of Afghanistan Karim Khalili, who had called upon the President of India at Rashtrapati Bhavan (President's house) in New Delhi.
The Indian president said India was committed to the Strategic Partnership Agreement and to assisting Afghanistan in the "critical period of transition, development and nation building." India is committed to Afghanistan at the political and strategic level well beyond 2014 when international forces are scheduled to depart, Mukherjee said.
He also said India supports an all-Afghan-owned, Afghan-led and Afghan-controlled reconciliation process.
The Strategic Partnership Agreement was signed between Afghanistan and India during Afghan President Hamid Karzai's visit to India in October 2011. This agreement allows Afghanistan to buy military weaponry from India such as aircraft, missiles and field-guns.
Mukherjee noted that Afghanistan has the potential to be a hub for regional trade, transport and energy corridors and a land of opportunity which can contribute to regional economic growth.
"Indian companies are interested in bidding for copper, gold, oil and gas deposits in Afghanistan," he said.
The Afghan Vice President warmly reciprocated the President's words and said relations between Afghanistan and India are of strategic importance and the friendship between the two countries will always remain strong. He expressed gratitude for the assistance extended by India to Afghanistan and invited Indian companies to invest in Afghanistan, especially in the mining sector. (KUNA)
August 22, 2013
NEW DELHI - The Indian President, Pranab Mukherjee, on Wednesday said that a sovereign and independent Afghanistan was in India's strategic interest.
"India considers a sovereign, independent, prosperous and democratic Afghanistan to be in India's strategic interest," Mukherjee said while welcoming second Vice President of Afghanistan Karim Khalili, who had called upon the President of India at Rashtrapati Bhavan (President's house) in New Delhi.
The Indian president said India was committed to the Strategic Partnership Agreement and to assisting Afghanistan in the "critical period of transition, development and nation building." India is committed to Afghanistan at the political and strategic level well beyond 2014 when international forces are scheduled to depart, Mukherjee said.
He also said India supports an all-Afghan-owned, Afghan-led and Afghan-controlled reconciliation process.
The Strategic Partnership Agreement was signed between Afghanistan and India during Afghan President Hamid Karzai's visit to India in October 2011. This agreement allows Afghanistan to buy military weaponry from India such as aircraft, missiles and field-guns.
Mukherjee noted that Afghanistan has the potential to be a hub for regional trade, transport and energy corridors and a land of opportunity which can contribute to regional economic growth.
"Indian companies are interested in bidding for copper, gold, oil and gas deposits in Afghanistan," he said.
The Afghan Vice President warmly reciprocated the President's words and said relations between Afghanistan and India are of strategic importance and the friendship between the two countries will always remain strong. He expressed gratitude for the assistance extended by India to Afghanistan and invited Indian companies to invest in Afghanistan, especially in the mining sector. (KUNA)
IBSA
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India has A Critical Role to Play in Afghanistan: US Lawmaker
NEW DELHI - India has a "critical role" to play in lending stability to Afghanistan and its involvement in the war-ravaged country could redefine its geo-political relations with the US, a top Indian-American lawmaker said on Monday.
"As our troops begin to withdraw by 2014 and Afghanistan goes to elections, India has the opportunity to give the best shot for Afghanistan. And India's role here will redefine its geopolitical relationships with America," Congressman Ami Bera said.
Bera was speaking at an interaction with former Indian Ambassador to the US Ronen Sen where he noted that "India should be the stable foundation for Asia".
"India has a critical role to play in stability of the Af-Pak region. And as the world's largest democracy and the world's oldest democracy, together we must see that Afghanistan goes for elections in a stable manner," Bera said.
The 48-year-old US-born Democratic lawmaker, only Indian-American currently serving in Congress, reiterated President Barack Obama's words that "Indo-American relationships will be one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century" and the "next generation of the Indian-Americans will further redefine it".
"We (Indo-US) need to have a constant robust dialogue for our geopolitical stability. I am there in the Congress and I would like other members of the Congress to understand the relationship. I would like them to understand India. And, now people born and raised in US will play a role in redefining that relationship," he said.
The California-based physician who recently visited Afghanistan called engaging in Afghanistan till 2014 end as "in our interest".
"As part of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, I will continue to say that it is in our interest to engage with Afghanistan till December 2014. And, we should do it successfully," he said.
Bera's father hailed from Gujarat and migrated to the US in 1950.
Born in California state, he is the third Indian-American -- after Dalip Singh Saundh in 1950 and Bobby Jindal in 2005 -- to have ever been elected to the House of Representatives, the lower house in the US legislature. (Agencies)
NEW DELHI - India has a "critical role" to play in lending stability to Afghanistan and its involvement in the war-ravaged country could redefine its geo-political relations with the US, a top Indian-American lawmaker said on Monday.
"As our troops begin to withdraw by 2014 and Afghanistan goes to elections, India has the opportunity to give the best shot for Afghanistan. And India's role here will redefine its geopolitical relationships with America," Congressman Ami Bera said.
Bera was speaking at an interaction with former Indian Ambassador to the US Ronen Sen where he noted that "India should be the stable foundation for Asia".
"India has a critical role to play in stability of the Af-Pak region. And as the world's largest democracy and the world's oldest democracy, together we must see that Afghanistan goes for elections in a stable manner," Bera said.
The 48-year-old US-born Democratic lawmaker, only Indian-American currently serving in Congress, reiterated President Barack Obama's words that "Indo-American relationships will be one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century" and the "next generation of the Indian-Americans will further redefine it".
"We (Indo-US) need to have a constant robust dialogue for our geopolitical stability. I am there in the Congress and I would like other members of the Congress to understand the relationship. I would like them to understand India. And, now people born and raised in US will play a role in redefining that relationship," he said.
The California-based physician who recently visited Afghanistan called engaging in Afghanistan till 2014 end as "in our interest".
"As part of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, I will continue to say that it is in our interest to engage with Afghanistan till December 2014. And, we should do it successfully," he said.
Bera's father hailed from Gujarat and migrated to the US in 1950.
Born in California state, he is the third Indian-American -- after Dalip Singh Saundh in 1950 and Bobby Jindal in 2005 -- to have ever been elected to the House of Representatives, the lower house in the US legislature. (Agencies)
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