US Vice President Joe Biden (left) with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi yesterday.
NEW DELHI: US Vice President Joe Biden held talks with Indian leaders yesterday as he sought to calm fears over the exit of American troops from Afghanistan and capitalise on growing investment opportunities.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is to visit the US in the last week of September during which he will hold bilateral talks with President Barack Obama.
This was discussed during talks between Biden and Singh. The prime minister would attend the UN General Assembly in New York and then visit Washington for a bilateral summit with Obama.
Mannohan Singh and Biden discussed a whole range of issues during their around an hour talks at 7, Race Course Road, including implementation of the civil nuclear deal and enhancing economic ties
Biden met his counterpart Hamid Ansari at the start of a round of talks that included sessions with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, President Pranab Mukherjee and senior opposition leader Sushma Swaraj.
The vice president, the most senior US official to visit India since President Barack Obama in 2010, has said the world’s two largest democracies share common goals on a range of regional security issues.
But there is widespread unease among Indian leaders over what will happen in Afghanistan once US troops have left in 2014, with many fearing that Pakistan has most to gain from the withdrawal.
India has spent more than $2bn of aid in Afghanistan since the Taliban, hardline Islamists who were strong allies of Pakistan, were toppled in the 2001 US-led invasion.
Even though planned talks between the US and Taliban collapsed last month, the possible return to power of the Taliban alarms many in India.
Writing in The Times of India yesterday, Washington-based commentator Seema Sirohi reflected a widespread feeling in New Delhi that the departure of US troops would be a major boost for Pakistan.
“Biden, as one of the original proponents of the pullback of US troops from Afghanistan, is well positioned to explain why the Americans have handed the keys to Kabul to Pakistani generals,” she wrote.
“Americans may close their eyes to the reality but it is impossible for India to do so. Biden should understand that.” AGENCIES
