The Obama Administration has publicly acknowledged the significant role played by India in the signing of the historic transit trade agreement between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Special US Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke said in Washington, the US was grateful to India for the key role played by it, in the absence of which Afghanistan and Pakistan would not have been able the sign the agreement in this regard in Kabul.The Transit Trade Agreement was signed in Kabul on Friday by the commerce ministers of the two neighbouring nations which took more than four decades of painful negotiations between Kabul and Islamabad. According to Holbrooke, this is the most important deal between Pakistan and Afghanistan since Pakistan's independence.