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 reporters here. The two sides will discuss a range of issues of mutual concern and interest and will discuss cooperation at a "critical time" for Afghanistan, which is witnessing the withdrawal of NATO combat troops, the envoy said.
The attempt will also be to think ahead with a shared vision, to meet the common challenges and achieve the common goals, Abdali said, adding "It is a critical time for all of us and we need to do more than what we are doing right now."
Asserting that "India is dispositioned to play a leading role in the entire region for peace and economic development," the envoy made a strong pitch for enhanced defence cooperation between the two countries. ...
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06:50 PM, May 16, 2013
Doha: President Hamid Karzai held talks with Qatari leaders on Sunday, official media reported, on a visit the Kabul government has said would seek to explore the possibility of talks with Taliban insurgents on ending Afghanistan's war. Karzai's trip to the Gulf Arab state, a US ally which has mediated in conflicts in Arab or Muslim countries, follows years of stalled discussions among the United States, Pakistan and the Taliban...
06:30 AM, Apr 01, 2013
Kabul: US special operations forces handed over their base in a strategic region of eastern Afghanistan to local Afghan commandos on Saturday, a senior US commander said. The withdrawal from Nirkh district meets a demand by Afghan President Hamid Karzai that US forces leave the area after allegations that the Americans' Afghan counterparts committed human rights abuses there. "We're coming out of Nirkh," said Major General Tony Thomas, the top...
06:34 PM, Mar 30, 2013
Kabul: Afghanistan is shocked by Pakistan's "complacency" in the nascent Afghan peace process and is ready to work without Islamabad's help on reconciliation, Deputy Foreign Minister Jawed Ludin told Reuters on Wednesday. It was the first time Afghanistan has suggested the possibility of going it alone without its neighbour. Regional power Pakistan is seen as critical to stabilising Afghanistan because of its long ties to insurgent groups. Ludin also said...
07:40 PM, Mar 27, 2013
Kabul: US Secretary of State John Kerry and Afghan President Hamid Karzai made a show of unity on Monday, shortly after the US military ceded control of its last detention facility in Afghanistan, ending a longstanding irritant in relations between the two countries. Kerry, in Afghanistan for an unannounced visit, said he and Karzai were "on the same page" when it comes to peace talks with the Taliban. Karzai had...
07:48 AM, Mar 26, 2013
Kabul: US Secretary of State John Kerry flew into Afghanistan on an unannounced visit on Monday to see President Hamid Karzai amid concerns the Afghan President may be jeopardising progress in the war against extremism with his anti-American rhetoric. He arrived shortly after the US military ceded control of its last detention facility in Afghanistan, ending a longstanding irritant in relations. Kerry arrived in the Afghan capital for a 24-hour...
06:46 PM, Mar 25, 2013
Afghan President Hamid Karzai is accusing the Taliban and the US of working in concert to convince Afghans that violence will worsen if foreign troops leave. ...
03:03 PM, Mar 10, 2013
Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Monday termed terrorism as the common enemy of Afghanistan and Pakistan and sought firm anti-terror support from Islamabad. ...
01:47 AM, Mar 05, 2013
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has given US special forces two weeks to leave a key battleground province after some US soldiers there were found to have tortured or even killed innocent people, the president's spokesman said on Sunday. ...
01:58 AM, Feb 25, 2013
British Prime Minister David Cameron is holding talks with Afghanistan and Pakistan for the third time since 2012. These trilateral talks are aimed at improving Afghanistan-Pakistan cooperation and stability to maintain peace in the region. ...
08:50 AM, Feb 04, 2013
US President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai agreed on Friday to speed up the handover of combat operations in Afghanistan to Afghan forces, raising the prospect of an accelerated US withdrawal from the country and underscoring Obama's determination to wind down a long, unpopular war. ...
12:55 AM, Jan 13, 2013
The Obama administration gave the first explicit signal Tuesday that it might leave no troops in Afghanistan after December 2014, an option that defies the Pentagon's view that thousands of troops may be needed to keep a lid on al-Qaida and to strengthen Afghan forces. "The US does not have an inherent objective of 'X' number of troops in Afghanistan," said Ben Rhodes, a White House deputy national security adviser....
08:52 AM, Jan 09, 2013
Pakistan on December 31 said it had freed 26 Afghan Taliban prisoners, including former ministers Mullah Nooruddin Turabi and Maulvi Allah Dad, since last month as part of its efforts to give impetus to the reconciliation process in Afghanistan. Eight Taliban detainees were released today to "further facilitate the Afghan reconciliation process", said a statement issued by the Foreign Office. ...
01:58 PM, Jan 01, 2013
Kabul: Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Saturday a suicide bombing that wounded his intelligence chief was planned in the Pakistani city of Quetta and that the issue would be raised with Islamabad. Karzai stopped short of blaming the Pakistani government directly. However, Karzai said the attack would be raised with neighbouring Pakistan, a regional power seen critical to US efforts to stabilise Afghanistan before NATO combat troops leave by...
04:54 PM, Dec 08, 2012
New Delhi: India and Afghanistan on Monday decided to intensify their cooperation, especially in the economic sector as they inked four pacts, including one on cooperation in development of coal and mineral resources and Indian aid for implementation of small development projects. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held discussions with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who is in India to seek investments in his war-torn country, on the entire gamut of bilateral...
04:56 PM, Nov 12, 2012
New Delhi: Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on Monday. He also met External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid. Four agreements were signed between the two countries. They signed four agreements in diverse areas, including mines and fertilizers, youth affairs, small development projects and fertilizers. India committed a $ 2 billion development and infrastructure assistance to Afghanistan. The two countries decided to work on an...
01:56 PM, Nov 12, 2012
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai gets a grand ceremonial reception ahead of his meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. On the agenda is key bilateral issues including training of security forces and inking mining contracts. ...
10:10 AM, Nov 12, 2012
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai is in India to take ties between the two countries forward. Speaking to CNN-IBN Senior Editor Suhasini Haidar, he said that he saw a greater role for India in training the Afghan forces after the NATO troops exited that country. ...
06:22 PM, Nov 11, 2012
Mumbai: Afghanistan is "ripe and ready" for Indian investments in mining and other sectors, President Hamid Karzai told business leaders in Mumbai on Saturday at the start of a trip to woo investors for his war-ravaged country. "We'd like to welcome you with a red carpet, but you need to arrive at the red carpet," he told delegates at an industry event in the financial capital. "What I'd like to...
04:38 AM, Nov 11, 2012
Mumbai: In an exclusive interview of the Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, he said that the US must go after sanctuaries and financiers of terrorism outside Afghanistan. Karzai also hoped that Afghan-US relations improve after the resounding win for US President Barack Obama. Speaking about the Pakistani teen activist Malala Yousufzai who was attacked by the Taliban in Pakistan for speaking about girl's rights to education, Karzai said, "Afghanistan will hunt...
03:30 PM, Nov 10, 2012
