Krishna shares Karzai’s enthusiasm
S M Krishna told the Press Trust of India in New Delhi that he shared President Karzai's enthusiasm for Afghanistan.
NEW DEHLI:
Back from Kabul after attending an international conference on Afghanistan, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna told the Press Trust of India (PTI) in New Delhi that he shared President Hamid Karzai’s enthusiasm for Afghan forces to take over security of the entire country from 2014, reported the Times of India on Thursday.
“He is very enthusiastic and I am very happy about it. He is also confident that he will be able to raise his own security force,” said Krishna, who had discussions with Karzai and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Afghan capital.
Asked if India was willing to help in raising the security forces necessary for the task, the minister replied, “Well, if Afghanistan asks, India shall help. We have been helping Afghanistan in our own way. It depends on what kind of help they seek and what kind of help we can render.”
Responding to a question as to whether the US decision to commence troops pull out in a year was premature, Krishna said, “I feel that international presence is needed in Afghanistan for a much longer time than it has now now been projected. We hope that international presence will act as some kind of insulation to Afghanistan for normalisation.” Asked whether India would like the US to take a fresh look at its decision, the minister said that New Delhi had conveyed its views to the US and to Afghanistan in bilateral meetings.
To a question on Pakistan’s efforts to play the power broker in Afghanistan, Krishna said that India had emphasised that initiative for future set up in the country had to be “Afghan-led and Afghan-owned”.
Asked whether there was a shift in India’s stand on good Taliban and bad Taliban, he said, “Well, we cannot wish away Taliban. Who are the Taliban – they are all citizens of Afghanistan.
“There is a realisation among individual members of Taliban that their movement is not going to be helpful to Afghanistan and that they should reconsider their association with Taliban. Then I think they should go back to the mainstream.”
UN chief Ban Ki-moon and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton led about 80 organisations and countries at the conference. The Kabul conference was billed as a bid by the Afghan government to set a roadmap for moving from dependence on foreign backers to greater self-sufficiency allowing the tens of thousands of Western troops currently in the country to draw down. At Tuesday’s meeting, the international community endorsed sweeping Afghan government plans to take responsibility for security by 2014, forge peace to end nine years of war and take greater control of aid projects.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 23rd, 2010.
Back from Kabul after attending an international conference on Afghanistan, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna told the Press Trust of India (PTI) in New Delhi that he shared President Hamid Karzai’s enthusiasm for Afghan forces to take over security of the entire country from 2014, reported the Times of India on Thursday.
“He is very enthusiastic and I am very happy about it. He is also confident that he will be able to raise his own security force,” said Krishna, who had discussions with Karzai and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Afghan capital.
Asked if India was willing to help in raising the security forces necessary for the task, the minister replied, “Well, if Afghanistan asks, India shall help. We have been helping Afghanistan in our own way. It depends on what kind of help they seek and what kind of help we can render.”
Responding to a question as to whether the US decision to commence troops pull out in a year was premature, Krishna said, “I feel that international presence is needed in Afghanistan for a much longer time than it has now now been projected. We hope that international presence will act as some kind of insulation to Afghanistan for normalisation.” Asked whether India would like the US to take a fresh look at its decision, the minister said that New Delhi had conveyed its views to the US and to Afghanistan in bilateral meetings.
To a question on Pakistan’s efforts to play the power broker in Afghanistan, Krishna said that India had emphasised that initiative for future set up in the country had to be “Afghan-led and Afghan-owned”.
Asked whether there was a shift in India’s stand on good Taliban and bad Taliban, he said, “Well, we cannot wish away Taliban. Who are the Taliban – they are all citizens of Afghanistan.
“There is a realisation among individual members of Taliban that their movement is not going to be helpful to Afghanistan and that they should reconsider their association with Taliban. Then I think they should go back to the mainstream.”
UN chief Ban Ki-moon and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton led about 80 organisations and countries at the conference. The Kabul conference was billed as a bid by the Afghan government to set a roadmap for moving from dependence on foreign backers to greater self-sufficiency allowing the tens of thousands of Western troops currently in the country to draw down. At Tuesday’s meeting, the international community endorsed sweeping Afghan government plans to take responsibility for security by 2014, forge peace to end nine years of war and take greater control of aid projects.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 23rd, 2010.