Karzai to visit India; Afghans look for enhanced defence ties

Ahead of its President's visit here from May 20, Afghanistan today said it was looking for enhanced defence cooperation with India, from where it was expecting supply of lethal and non-lethal military equipment.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai will visit India on May 20-22 during which he will apprise the Indian leadership of the recent developments in the war-torn country, Afghanistan Ambassador to India Shaida M Abdali told reporters here.
The two sides will discuss a range of issues of mutual concern and interest and will discuss cooperation at a "critical time" for Afghanistan, which is witnessing the withdrawal of NATO combat troops, the envoy said.

The attempt will also be to think ahead with a shared vision, to meet the common challenges and achieve the common goals, Abdali said, adding "It is a critical time for all of us and we need to do more than what we are doing right now."
Asserting that "India is dispositioned to play a leading role in the entire region for peace and economic development," the envoy made a strong pitch for enhanced defence cooperation between the two countries.
"Training is most welcome. Other assistance in small stages is most welcome.....But we would like to go beyond the current trend of co-operation between the two countries in the defence sector," he said.

Asked as to what kind of defence assistance Afghanistan was looking at from India, the Ambassador said, "The partnership agreement does not distinguish between lethal and non-lethal. We have talked about security and defence cooperation, this does not exclude lethal and non-lethal assistance to Afghanistan.

"So, we would like to have both lethal and non-lethal assistance to our defence forces in Afghanistan."
The Afghan envoy also welcomed the recent commitment of upgrading strategically important Chabahar port in Iran which would help India get access to the land-locked and resource- rich countries. An estimated USD 100 million is required for the modernisation of the port.

"We would like to see the conclusion of the agreement on the Chabahar port. We are very happy that this is gathering momentum. We hope that we sign the trilateral trade agreement among India, Afghanistan and Iran as quickly as possible. We are optimistic after Indian minister Salman Khurshid's visit to Iran," the Afghanistan envoy said.