The latest developments in Afghanistan and India’s aid programme to the war torn country was reviewed when Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmay Rassoul met the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh last evening. Mr. Rassoul arrived in New Delhi yesterday on his first stand alone visit to India since becoming the Foreign Minister in January this year. He is understood to have briefed the Prime Minister on the efforts to bring about peace in the country. Mr. Rassoul will have detailed delegation level talks with External Affairs Minister, S.M. Krishna today. Ways to combat terrorism and review of India's aid to Afghanistan will be high on the agenda of his talks. AIR correspondent reports that it is the first Afghan ministerial visit to India after WikiLeaks, an online whistle-blower revealed extensive involvement of Pakistan-backed terror groups in attacks against Indian personnel and interests in the violence-torn country. Afghanistan has also openly voiced anger against Pakistan and accused it of harbouring Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants. Afghan National Security Advisor, Rangir Dadfar Spanta in an article in Washington Post talked about the frustration among Afghan people over the fact that sanctuaries of terrorism continue to exist in Pakistan which continues to receive billions of dollars in aid. He said that the global community is committing a blunder by embracing Pakistan as its strategic partner in the fight against terror. Briefing media on the visit, External Affairs Ministry spokesman, Vishnu Prakash said that despite the heinous attacks on Indian interests by the forces inimical to Indo-Afghan relations, New Delhi remains committed to assisting Afghanistan. India has not only been helping Afghanistan in the infrastructure development but also helping it in its capacity and institution building. Meanwhile, India is all set to reopen its medical mission in Kabul which had been closed after the terrorist attack on the 26th of February this year. Highly placed government sources said that the process to replace some of the staff there has already been initiated and the mission is expected to resume its full scale operation shortly. One member of the 11 member medical mission was killed in the February attack.
News On AIR | August 25, 2010 1:54 PM
Krishna- Rassoul talks: Combating terrorism, review of India's aid to Afghanistan high on agenda