The US today hailed India's developmental assistance of $1.3 billion to Afghanistan, saying it is "critical" for the success there in the fight against terror.
The US today hailed India's developmental assistance of $1.3 billion to Afghanistan, saying it is "critical" for the success there in the fight against terror which is not limited to military campaign.
"India already participates in Afghan operations. India provides for Afghanistan a substantial development assistance of $1.3 billion at this point. The Indian government is making an important contribution and it is critical to the success of the Afghan operations," US deputy secretary for Defence William J Lynn told reporters here.
Lynn, who discussed the situation in Afghanistan with defence secretary Pradeep Kumar and other officials here, underlined that Afghan operations are "more than military... its military, development assistance, and its political."
He was responding when asked if the Obama administration would subscribe to the views of former US president George W Bush's call for India's participation in Afghanistan for the success of the war against terror there.
Lynn, who was here to co-chair the two-day US-India Defence Planning Group meeting, said the Afghanistan situation was discussed in detail during the course of the meet.
The review focused on the US' continuing and enduring commitment to Afghanistan and the entire region to dismantle the al Qaeda, and synchronising the military, political and economic legs of the operations there, he added. Lynn said the review also focused on what was going on in Afghanistan and Pakistan and to wipe out terrorism in both the countries and across their borders.
He said the US approach to the anti-terror operations encompassed the entire region. "Not just Afghanistan, but also Pakistan. In the last 12 to 18 months, there has been greater cooperation from Pakistan government to fight Taliban on Pakistani side," he said.
Asked if the recent Indo-US military exercises were a prelude to any joint anti-terror and counter-insurgency operations, the US official said the navies of the two countries were already coordinating in the Horn of Africa to counter piracy.
"The anti-piracy operations are not joint operations, but coordinated operations to share the burden," he added.
The US-India DPG meet, which began in 2005 to cover the full spectrum of defence relations, also discussed China, which Lynn described as a "significant entity" in the region.
He said China had an important role in Asia and that both India and US had good relations with it that they wanted to further improve.
The DPG also deliberated on the proposed Indo-US military deals such as Logistics Support Agreement (LSA) and Communication Interoperability and Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA). While LSA would provide for cashless supplies to militaries at each other's sea ports and airports, CISMOA was for enabling the two militaries to communicate on a common platform and for interoperability.
These deals, which have been under discussions for long, are to follow the End-User Monitoring Agreement (EUMA), for which a generic draft was agreed to by India during US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit here in July this year.
"The LSA and CISMOA are still under the consideration (of the Indian government). They are looking into it," Lynn said to a query in this regard.
Referring to the visit of prime minister Manmohan Singh to the US later this month, the US deputy secretary for defence said the growing defence relations between the two countries would be noted during the visit.
He added that the DPG also broadly discussed issues concerning military trade and exports, and the full spectrum of the defence relations between the two countries.
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