India and Afghanistan on Wednesday wound up two days of talks during a visit to New Delhi by Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul, saying they would work together to combat terrorism in the region. Rassaoul met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and held talks with his Indian counterpart S.M. Krishna on issues ranging from trade to the scourge of terrorism, a joint statement released after the talks said.
"They agreed that terrorism is the main threat undermining peace and stability in the region and reiterated their resolve to effectively combating and defeating it," it said. Rassoul and Krishna also discussed the possibility of transforming war-torn Afghanistan into a springboard for trade between central and south Asia, the statement added.
It did not mention whether Pakistan was raised during the talks. Both sides have troubled relations with Islamabad because of their suspicions of Pakistani funding and support for extremism within their borders. But the statement said: "They also emphasised the need to ensure that terrorist and extremist groups targeting Afghanistan and other countries in the region are denied safe havens and sanctuaries."
Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan are jostling for influence in Afghanistan, which analysts say could bring fresh instability to the country as US-led international troops eye their exit after mid-2011. Since the US-led invasion ended the Taliban's 1996-2001 regime, India has committed 1.3 billion dollars to Afghanistan - mainly aid for social services including health and education.
Some 4,000 Indians are building roads, sanitation projects and power lines in Afghanistan, and India is also building the new Afghan parliament. In February this year, nine Indians were killed in a Taliban suicide attack on foreigners in Kabul, which claimed a total of 16 lives.
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