Washington: Applauding India`s key role in
Afghanistan, the US has said that New Delhi has been helpful
in providing training to the security forces of the war-torn
country to help improve the situation there.
"India has a training presence inside Afghanistan and has
(it) for a quite some time. Obviously President (Hamid) Karzai
finds that very helpful," Pentagon spokesman, Capt John Kirby,
told reporters Friday evening.
He welcomed India`s decision to train the Afghan National
Security Forces (ANSF), a pact on which was inked between the
two countries this week during the New Delhi visit of Karzai.
Noting that a secure and stable Afghanistan is good for
the region, the Pentagon spokesman said this can be achieved
by having a string Afghan security force, in which India is
playing a key role now.
"Everybody in the region stands to benefit from a secure
and stable Afghanistan. The degree to which President Karzai
wants to continue its relationship with India, is certainly
his decision - the elected leader of that sovereign nation,"
he said.
"We certainly support that to improve security there. It
is not just about Afghanistan. It is a regional issue. India
has been helpful in the past, helping train the ANSF (Afghan
National Security Forces)," he said.
The Indian military has been helpful in Afghanistan,
Kirby said.
"Clearly both countries want to see that that kind of
cooperation continues to the degree that it helps create a
more secure Afghanistan. That is good for everybody in the
region," he said.
"We for our part, the coalition part, the training
mission is critical to the success of the strategy and we
believe that it is being resourced appropriately from the
alliance, NATO and other coalition partners of the United
States. One of those regional partners of course is India,"
the Pentagon spokesman said.
PTI
