SME Times - Manmohan to Meet Karzai Today to Discuss Bilateral Ties, India Afghanistan Bilateral Ties, Manmohan Singh and Hamid Karzai Will Discuss on Bilateral Ties

President Hamid Karzai with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. File Photo

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SME Times News Bureau | 26 Apr, 2010
President Hamid Karzai arrived in the national capital on a two-day visit to hold discussions with PM Manmohan Singh on bilateral ties and developments within Afghanistan.

In fact, the high-level meetings between India and Afghanistan takes place in the backdrop of the meeting of Nato foreign ministers and their coalition partners to put together a road plan to slowly transfer security and governance powers to Afghan authorities.

Foreign Minister Zalmay Rassoul where the two sides are expected to discuss bilateral issues. This will be followed by the meeting between Dr Singh and Karzai who is stopping in India on his way to the SAARC summit in Bhutan, on Monday.

India wants to get the message across that it remains committed to seeing a stable Afghanistan.

Manmohan Singh will also convey to Karzai India's concerns over the volatile security situation in the country and review steps being taken to bolster security of over 3,500 Indians engaged in various reconstruction activities in the violence-torn country.

"We are constantly vigilant and seized of all these matters," Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao told reporters in New Delhi recently when asked to react to reports that suggest more attacks are being planned on Indians in Afghanistan.

A day before Afghan President arrives in in New Delhi, his Zalmay Rassoul on Sunday held talks that saw India airing its concerns over a proposal to reintegrate the Taliban in Afghanistan.

External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna met Rassoul over dinner and conveyed New Delhi's sense of unease about the consequences of any power-sharing arrangement with the Taliban, sources said.

India has always opposed any artificial distinction between good Taliban and bad Taliban and regard any power-sharing deal as a threat to its interests and to regional stability, the sources said.

Rassoul, on his part, briefed the Indian side on the "peace jirga", a meeting of tribal elders that is expected to be held next month after Karzai returns from visit to Washington.

Ever since the Jan 28 London conference that cleared the way for reintegration of the Taliban into the Afghan mainstream, India has aired its anxieties many a time about any power-sharing arrangement with the hardline militia that could lead to an increased influence of Pakistan in the affairs of Afghanistan.

The Indian side is expected to focus on the safety of Indian nationals in Afghanistan and review the status of the probe into the Kabul attacks in which Indians were killed.

Also the ongoing Indian projects — including the Salma dam and the construction of the Afghan Parliament — are also expected to be discussed. The ministry of external affairs had said in a release that Dr Karzai’s visit would be an "opportunity for India to express its firm commitment and support to the government and people of Afghanistan."