India, US along with other states discuss way ahead for Afghanistan

India today joined the US, Pakistan and a dozen other countries in discussing a way forward for Afghanistan, including reconstruction of the war-torn nation, amid threat of a rise in the Taliban insurgency.

External affairs minister SM Krishna, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton and their Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi along with representatives from 12 other countries discussed situation in Afghanistan and rebuilding efforts at a meeting chaired by Afghan foreign minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta.

"It was an informal meeting on a way ahead for Afghanistan," diplomatic sources said.

The foreign ministers' roundtable discussion took place at the Stor Palace in the premises of the Afghan foreign ministry after the swearing in of Hamid Karzai as the president of this country for a second five-year term.  Earlier, Krishna and Clinton had a brief informal chat on the sidelines of a luncheon hosted by Spanta.

The two leaders, who were in the Afghan capital for the inauguration Karzai as president, are understood to have discussed prime minister Manmohan Singh's four-day visit to the US beginning on November 22.

Krishna and his Pakistani counterpart Qureshi were seated next to each other at the luncheon. They had earlier met on September 27 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York during which progress on the Mumbai attacks case was
the focus of their discussion.