India to hold firm in Afghanistan

INDIA: Indian Foreign Minister S M Krishna vowed Sunday that security threats would not drive his country out of Afghanistan during a two-day visit to Kabul. Speaking after talks with Afghan counterpart Zalmai Rassoul, Krishna said that threats to Indians working in Afghanistan were “real” but added his country was “not going to be cut down” by them.

Nine Indians died in a Taliban suicide attack on foreigners in the Afghan capital in February last year, while a suicide bomber killed 41 people in an attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul in 2008. “The threat to our mission unfortunately is real,” Krishna told a press conference, while adding he was “confident” that the Afghan government could provide the necessary protection.

“Let me hasten to add India is not going to be cut down by such threats,” he said.

“We will continue to remain in Afghanistan as long as the legitimately elected government of Afghanistan wants us to be here.”

The two sides also discussed “the need to deal firmly with safe havens for terrorist groups that continue to exist outside Afghanistan’s borders,” Krishna said.

Both India and Afghanistan have pointed the finger at Pakistan over security threats, suggesting elements within its power structures fund and support extremism within its borders. Analysts say regional arch-rivals India and Pakistan are locked in a struggle for influence in Afghanistan, which borders Pakistan.

Krishna is due to meet President Hamid Karzai during the visit, which began Saturday.

He announced India would give 1,000 tonnes of wheat to drought-hit Afghanistan.

India is believed to give more money to Afghanistan than any other country in the region, through aid and reconstruction programmes.

Kabul, Monday, AFP