US recognises India's role in Afghanistan: Obama aide

US does not want India to shut down its consulates in Afghanistan and recognises that New Delhi has a role in the war-torn country and in the dialogue about the future of the nation, top Obama officials have said.

"No," the deputy national security adviser for strategic communication, Ben Rhodes, told a group of Indian reporters at a special White House briefing, when asked if Washington is planning to push India to close its consulates in Afghanistan as being demanded by Pakistan.

"We do not view these things through that kind of prism. With regard to Afghanistan, we believe that there is a role the international communities and the countries of the region are playing supporting stability in Afghanistan. India has played a constructive role through its development assistance," Rhodes said.

Besides, the capital Kabul, India has consulates in eastern provinces of Jalalabad and Kandahar and in the western province of Herat.

"We have long made clear our support for India's contributions in Afghanistan," the under-secretary of state for political affairs, Bill Burns, said in another White House briefing earlier in the day.

"India has contributed something like $1.3 billion worth of development assistance in agriculture and other areas over the last eight or nine years in Afghanistan -- at some cost, because there have been Indian workers who have lost their lives during that period," he said.