South Asian nations should learn from Indo-Afghan ties: Abdali

Stating that Afghanistan's ties with India are "time-tested", Afghan Ambassador to India Shaida Mohammad Abdali today said South Asian nations should learn from the relationship between the two countries, which is based on common values, interests and problems.
"Afghanistan's relationship with India is time-tested and it is a great example of how two neighbours should live together and help each other," Abdali told PTI on the sidelines of the 'India Conclave Ideas', a three-day-long event that kicked off here today.
The conclave is on the theme "Democracy, Development and Dissents".
"We (Afghanistan) hope other countries in this region can also learn from the relationship between India and Afghanistan, which is based on common values, interests and problems," he added.

"India-Afghanistan relationship is going to set an example that can help the rest of the region," Abdali said.
"I hope that we overcome the tension looking at the common problem that we face like poverty, terrorism. It's time that the countries in this region join hands and put aside issues of contention," he added.

"'Democracy, Development and Dissents' is very important for the countries within the region. Afghanistan has lot of take-aways from such a discussion. Our achievements in these three areas would have been impossible without the contribution from India," the envoy said.
"We need to support democracies in this region. India is the largest democracy and the full fledged democracy can give a lot of experience and support to the democracies within the region," Abdali said.

"Our region is suffering because of lack of full fledged democracy that we should have. Democracy will allow the country to prosper and to develop," Abdali said.
According to him,India can take the region forward, especially in dealing with the problem of terrorism, dictatorships and civil military relationship.
"Our region will have good future if we develop democracy and support democracy. There is less of tolerance in some part of our region, where there is opposition to certain set of ideas," the Ambassador said.