New Delhi: India and Afghanistan will discuss prospects of enhancing Delhi’s role in training Afghan security forces and sign four pacts in diverse areas, including mines and fertilisers, during Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s visit to the country later this week.
India-educated Karzai begins his four-day visit from Mumbai on November 9 where he will interact with top Indian businessmen and pitch for greater investment in Afghanistan.
In Mumbai, he will speak to investors and focus on how regional economies can be integrated, Afghan Ambassador Shaida Mohammad Abdali told reporters here yesterday.
The envoy underlined that Karzai will be visiting India at “a critical time” as international combat troops prepare to withdraw from Afghanistan by 2014.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Karzai will hold wide-ranging talks in New Delhi on November 12. Four MoUs will be signed between the two countries in areas of mines, youth affairs, small development projects and fertilisers, he said.
The envoy stressed that the visit will seek to intensify strategic dialogue between India and Afghanistan on bilateral and regional issues. He indicated that the two sides will be looking to step up Indian training for Afghan national security forces.
“India has committed itself to strengthening the security of Afghanistan,” he said, alluding to the strategic partnership agreement India and Afghanistan signed last year.
With the fragile security situation in his country as a backdrop, the envoy called for intensifying international and regional cooperation in combating terrorism in Afghanistan. “We need to cooperate against combating terrorism. We don’t have a satisfactory situation so far. We still have pockets of insurgent groups and sanctuaries of terror,” he said. Karzai’s visit comes at a time when a resurgent Taliban has escalated violence across the country, including in Bamiyan.AFP
