India-Afghanistan links "symbiotic"; No scaling down

New Delhi, Mar 19 (PTI) Making its strategy clear on
Afghanistan, India Friday said it was committed to its
developmental partnership with it and rejected Pakistan's
claim of gaining centrality in that country.

Terming links between India and Afghanistan as
"symbiotic", top officials here said the two sides were joined
together by history and civilisation and the developmental
work being carried out by India was without any "ulterior
motive".
Asserting that India was doing what Afghans want, they
said "the projects were Afghan-led, Afghan-driven" and the
country will continue accepting their request for any
developmental assistance but may do it with "changed nuances".
Noting that any incident which takes place in
Afghanistan has a "deep" impact on India, they said a peaceful
country was good for all and emphasised the need for the
international community to carry out efforts to stablise and
develop Afghanistan specially in view of some "fatigue"
setting in the West forces.
The worst case scenario from Indian view point is the
withdrawal of coalition forces from Afghanistan that would
create a power vacuum with a return of situation to the
pre-9/11 days.
The officials also rejected Pakistani claim that it
was gaining centrality in Afghanistan. "Pakistan has had
effective control but their claim that it has a predominant
role to play in Afghanistan is not true...
"Lets wait and watch," they said when asked about
Pakistan waiting to claim its strategic depth in Afghanistan
after the eventual withdrawal of coalition forces. MORE PTI
PYK
RDM


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