Afghan Army chief holds talks with Gen Rawat, Admiral Lanba

Army Chief Gen. Bipin Rawat today held extensive talks with Chief of General Staff of Afghan National Army Lt. Gen Mohammad Sharif Yaftali and explored ways to deepen defence and security ties between the two countries.
Official sources said Gen. Rawat and Lt. Gen Yaftali also deliberated on the regional security situation besides discussing specific areas of cooperation between the two armies.
The Afghan National Army Chief also met Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba and discusses bilateral and strategic issues, they said.
Defence and security cooperation between India and Afghanistan has been on an upswing.
India has already given four military helicopters to Afghanistan and imparted training to hundreds of Afghan security personnel. However, Afghanistan has been pressing for supply of more military hardware by India.

In September, India had agreed to extend further assistance to Afghanistan to bolster its armed forces.
During talks between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Afghan counterpart Salahuddin Rabbani, the two sides had also decided to deepen security ties and work closely to combat the challenge of cross-border terrorism from Pakistan.