Obama calls up PM, discusses Afghanistan, climate change

US President Barack Obama today spoke to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and discussed with him the situation in Afghanistan and further steps required to bring peace and stability in the country.

During the "brief conversation", the two leaders also discussed the forthcoming summit on climate change in Copenhagen, the Prime Minister's Office said here.

Singh told Obama that India would play a constructive role in the negotiations and looked forward to a successful outcome in Copenhagen.

Obama had highlighted the importance of tackling violence and extremism emanating from the region "in a serious way".

India feels that due to the continued threat posed by terrorism emanating from Afghanistan, the world community should stay engaged there and not think about "pre-mature exit" as it could embolden terrorists.

Singh is of the view that India and the US needed to do more in cooperation on counter-terrorism.

"I sincerely hope that the world community will have the wisdom to stay engaged in that process and premature talk of exit would only embolden the terrorist elements who are out to destabilise not only our part of the world but civilised world everywhere," Singh had said in Washington last week.

Though Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have suggested that the Prime Minister should attend the Copenhagen summit starting on December 7, Singh is yet to take a call on attending it.

Ahead of the crucial meet, India has said it was willing to take greater steps to tackle the challenge posed by global warming provided there was a more supportive global regime.

India has also made it clear that it was not in a position to take legally binding emission cuts but has already embarked on an enhanced energy efficiency mission which could reduce the carbon intensity of its rapid growth.

In New Delhi, Prime Minister's Special Envoy on Climate Change Shyam Saran said contrary to the developed countries' action, India has already begun unconditional implementation of its action plan to tackle global warming.