Stepping up their interaction in the security grid, India and Afghanistan are expected to consider “enhanced focus” on cooperation in the “fight against international terrorism” when President Hamid Karzai arrives on a two-day visit (October 4-5) this week.
The Afghanistan leader’s interaction with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is to be in the nature of a “follow-up discussion in the near future” with the aim of preparing a “strategic partnership document” that was visualised in the joint declaration signed by the two leaders on May 12 this year during Dr Manmohan Singh’s visit to Kabul.
With the announcement of further assistance of $500 million during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit, India’s total commitment to Afghanistan’s development and progress now touches $2 billion, a rapid doubling in a short period of time.
The joint declaration envisaged the establishment of a “strategic partnership” overseen by a partnership council to be anchored by the foreign ministers of of India and Afghanistan. This is projected as an “elevation” of the “close cooperation” that already exists between the two countries.