New Delhi: In the backdrop of NATO troops' withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2014, Afghan President Hamid Karzai is keen to enhance defence cooperation with India and get supply of 'lethal and non-lethal' weapons. Karzai held talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday night and gave him a wishlist for military supplies.
Karzai's other problem is Pakistan which has influence over elements of the Afghan Taliba, that is where Delhi's support for an Afghan-led process is critical for the country's stability.
Meanwhile, Karzai made it clear that Afghanistan doesn't need Indian troops for peacekeeping, however, asked Delhi to continue to train Afghan police and military in India.
Karzai also invites Indian officers to train at soon-to-be ready Military academy in Kabul. Apart from extensive developmental assistance programme, which now stands at around $2 billion, India also provides training in capacity building to 2,000 Afghans every year....
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02:10 PM, May 22, 2013
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Afghan President Hamid Karzai's visit strategically very important for India, says CNN-IBN's Foriegn Affairs Editor Suhasini Haidar. ...
01:43 PM, May 22, 2013
New Delhi: India is prepared to increase bilateral contribution to Afghanistan's institution-building, training and equipment to the extent possible and would stand by that country during its critical period of transition, President Pranab Mukherjee said on Tuesday. During a meeting with visiting Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai, Mukherjee said India is proud to partner the government and people of Afghanistan in their efforts towards reconstruction and development of Afghanistan. The President...
08:50 PM, May 21, 2013
New Delhi: Afghan President Hamid Karzai held talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday night discussing the situation in the region in the backdrop of Afghanistan's keenness to enhance defence cooperation with India and get supply of "lethal and non-lethal" weapons. Karzai, who arrived in Chandigarh on Monday to receive a a 'Doctorate Honoris Causa' by a private university, held talks on various key bilateral and regional issues with...
08:34 PM, May 21, 2013
Washington: The US on Monday welcomed India's generous bilateral assistance to Afghanistan but remained non-committal on reports about Kabul seeking supply of military equipment from New Delhi. "We welcome efforts by Afghanistan's neighbours and other regional actors to promote Afghanistan's stability and economic development," State Department spokesperson Patrick Ventrell told reporters. He was responding to questions on the India visit of Afghan President Hamid Karzai during which according to media...
09:56 AM, May 21, 2013
New Delhi: Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, who arrived in country on Monday on a three-day visit, is set to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh later on Tuesday. Karzai is expected to seek increased military aid for his country. Karzai on Monday was conferred an honorary degree at a professional university in Phagwara in Chandigarh. "We will ask for assistance for the strengthening of our security forces," Karzai's spokesman had said...
07:15 AM, May 21, 2013
New Delhi: Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai arrived in the country on Monday on a three-day visit during which he will seek increased military aid from India and discuss recent cross-border clashes with Pakistan. "We will ask for assistance for the strengthening of our security forces," Karzai's spokesman had said in a briefing on Saturday in Kabul ahead of the trip. Karzai, who arrived in Punjab on the first leg of...
10:49 PM, May 20, 2013
New Delhi: Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai will arrive in India on Monday. Karzai is set to receive an honorary doctorate from a Chandigarh university, after which he will visit the national capital. Hamid Karzai, who is not on an official visit to India, may seek increased military aid from India during and discuss recent cross-border clashes with Pakistan, an aide said. The comments follow a weekend report by the Times...
09:59 AM, May 20, 2013
Kabul: Afghan President Hamid Karzai will seek increased military aid from India during a three-day visit starting Monday and will discuss recent cross-border clashes with Pakistan, an aide said. The comments follow a weekend report by the Times of India that said Afghanistan's ambassador to India had said the country needs India's help with "equipment and weapons to fight." The Press Trust of India later quoted a spokesman for India's...
07:35 PM, May 19, 2013
Kabul: A suicide bomber in a car attacked a convoy of foreign troops in Kabul on Thursday, killing at least 15 people including six Americans, Afghan and foreign officials said, in one of the worst attacks in the Afghan capital in months. Forty people were wounded in the blast at around 8 am (0330 GMT) during the morning rush-hour. It caused heavy damage to mud-built houses in the vicinity. The...
06:44 AM, May 17, 2013
New Delhi: Ahead of its President's visit here from May 20, Afghanistan on Thursday said it was looking for enhanced defence cooperation with India, from where it was expecting supply of lethal and non-lethal military equipment. Afghan President Hamid Karzai will visit India on May 20-22 during which he will apprise the Indian leadership of the recent developments in the war-torn country, Afghanistan Ambassador to India Shaida M Abdali told...
06:50 PM, May 16, 2013
Kabul: Two members of Afghanistan's NATO-led force were killed on Thursday when a suicide car bomber attacked their two-car convoy in the Afghan capital, Kabul, the force said in a statement. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said four ISAF civilian contractors were also among the dead but it did not provide information on their nationalities. ...
05:10 PM, May 16, 2013
Kabul: An Afghan official says a bomb hidden in a parked motorcycle has ripped through a crowded bazaar in a remote region of the southern Helmand province on Tuesday, killing at least three people and wounding seven. Omer Zawak, the spokesman for the provincial governor, says the explosion occurred today at the market in the village of Safar. Safar is located 70 kilometers (42 miles) from the district centre of...
03:07 PM, May 14, 2013
Mumbai: A 27-year-old man from Mumbai, Hamid Ansari, who went to Afghanistan in November 2012 to find a job, has gone missing. Ansari's family fears he might have crossed into Pakistan. "He promised to return on 12th, I waited till the 15th. Then I got Kabul airport's number from the Internet and called them to ask if my son's name was in the passenger list. There was no such passenger,"...
08:58 AM, May 05, 2013
Tehran: India and Iran on Friday discussed the developing situation in Afghanistan and agreed to remain in regular contact. The two sides also inked three MoUs during the 17th meeting of the Iran-India Joint Economic Commission which is being held here on May 3-5. Visiting Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and his Iranian counterpart Ali-Akbar Salehi also discussed the Chabahar port project. Describing Iran as one of India's biggest...
11:43 PM, May 04, 2013
Islamabad: Pakistani authorities on Thursday issued orders for sealing the border with Afghanistan during the General Election on May 11 in order to maintain peace during the polling. The government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ordered the provincial Home Department to seal the Pakistan-Afghanistan border at Torkham to "avert the entry of unwanted persons for maintenance of peace" during the elections, officials said. Authorities also instructed the Additional Chief Secretary of the restive...
04:55 PM, May 02, 2013
Washington: A panel in the United States has asked the government to continue its visa ban on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. The same report has deemed Pakistan the world's worst violator of religious freedom. The report demanded that Pakistan be designated a country of particular concern. The report has also cited Afghanistan as being very poor for dissenting Sunni Muslims, Shias, Sikhs, Hindus and Christians. It also says that...
12:37 PM, May 01, 2013
New Delhi: An earthquake measuring 6.2 on the richter scale hit Afghanistan on Wednesday. Tremors were also felt in parts of Pakistan including Lahore, Abbotabad, Sargodha, Islamabad, Kasur, Peshawar, Swat and Parachinar as well as in North India including New Delhi and Kashmir. There were no initial reports of any damages. While the Pakistan Met department put the magnitude of the earthquake at 6.2, the USGS put its magnitude at...
03:17 PM, Apr 24, 2013
Kabul: A helicopter owned by an Afghan company has made an emergency landing in a Taliban-controlled area of eastern Afghanistan, and the terrorists took all nine people who were aboard hostage. A district administrator in the area says the helicopter landed on Sunday afternoon in strong winds and rain in a village of Logar province, southeast of Kabul and about 30 kilometres from the Pakistan border. Hamidullah Hamid said on...
11:30 AM, Apr 23, 2013
Kabul: Insurgents killed six police officers at a checkpoint and a suicide bomber killed three civilians at a shopping bazaar in separate attacks on Sunday in eastern Afghanistan, while an independent security group warned 2013 is on track to be one of the most violent years of the war. April already has been the deadliest month of 2013 for security forces and Afghan and foreign civilians as the US and...
01:14 AM, Apr 22, 2013
