 "Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the President of Afghanistan Mohammad Ashraf Ghani during the exchange of agreements between India and Afghanistan in New Delhi")
The government on Wednesday committed $1 billion (Rs 6,600 crore) in development aid and medicines to its Afghan counterpart.
It also renewed an offer to send 170,000 tonnes of wheat to the food-scarce country but pointed at Islamabad yet to give its assent to the request for transport through Pak territory. Three agreements were signed after talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who arrived here on Wednesday morning, on a two-day visit. These were on an extradition treaty, cooperation in civil and commercial matters, and cooperation in outer space.
Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar said a large part of the discussion was on the challenge the region faced from terrorism, particularly use of violence to achieve political aims. The joint statement called upon “the concerned” to put an end to all support, sponsorship and safe havens to terrorists in the region, including those who target Afghanistan and India.
The two governments also decided to strengthen security and defence cooperation. Delhi also offered further assistance for capacity building in education, health, agriculture, skill development, empowerment of women, energy, infrastructure and strengthening of democratic institutions. It offered $1 billion to Kabul for this. Afghanistan is the recipient of India’s largest development assistance to any country. Modi and Ghani agreed that the Strategic Partnership Council, co-chaired by their two foreign ministers, would meet shortly, to review the recommendations of four working groups.
They noted the completion, with Indian help, of the Afghan legislature building and the Salma Dam. And, to resumption of India-US-Afghan consultations in New York later this month.
It was also announced that the Ministerial Conference of the Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process will be held in Amritsar on December 4. They said the choice of Amritsar underscored the value of restoring connectivity.
To achieve better connectivity between South Asia and Central Asia, the leaders stressed for early implementation of the trilateral agreement involving Afghanistan, India and Iran, signed in May 2016, using the Chahbahar port in Iran. A joint forum of important stakeholders, including from business, is to meet soon.
