Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Friday, March 29th, 2024

Besides $1b Aid Pledge, New Delhi Signs 3 Accords with Kabul

Besides $1b Aid Pledge, New  Delhi Signs 3 Accords with Kabul

KABUL - Besides pledging another $1billion in development aid, India has signed with Afghanistan three memoranda of understanding (MoUs) on cooperation in areas of prisoners’ extradition, judicial system and technology during President Ashraf Ghani’s two days visit to New Delhi.
President Ghani left for India three days ago and on Wednesday he met with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi as the two countries signed the three agreements. India pledged $1billion towards development activity in Afghanistan.
The two leaders agreed that militancy presented the single biggest threat to stability, peace and progress of the region and beyond.
Later, speaking at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses in New Delhi, Ghani asserted that making distinction between good and bad terrorism is a “short-sighted” approach.
He also said the Chabahar port in Iran would help India bypass Pakistan in transferring goods. He said states should help their neighbours and not indulge in maligning them.
“They (states) do not behave like maligned non states actors vis-a-vis their neighbours. They see a collective security to be an objective and that’s what brings stability. Stability does not come from the barrel of the gun,” said Ghani.
A spokesman for President Ghani in Kabul, Haroon Chakhansori, yesterday said the meeting between Ghani and Modi discussed economic cooperation, regional security and stability and India’s development assistance with Afghanistan.
He said a part of the fresh Indian aid would be spent on vocational education in Afghanistan in order to produce skilled workers and generate jobs for them.
During the visit, he said, President Ghani encouraged Indian businessmen to make investments in Afghanistan in areas of exports and a discussion on a joint cargo company in this regard followed.
He said the proposed cargo company of the private sector would export fresh fruits and other goods to India from Afghanistan and would transfer goods needed in Afghanistan from India.
Chakhansori said President Ghani urged representatives of the Indian private sector to provide proposals of five Indian leading pharmaceutical companies to the Afghan government in order Kabul could purchase medicines from them.
“India produces standard medicines which have 60 percent cheap rate compared to other countries excluding some European and American countries. Afghanistan will purchase for the first time medicines for its security and defence forces from the five distinguished companies,” the spokesman said.
He quoted President Ghani as telling Indian officials that regional consensus was imperative to fight the challenge of terrorism.
To a question about peace talks with the Hezb-i-Islami Afghanistan led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Chakhansori said considerable progress had been achieved in the talks. He said the peace agreement between the two sides were expectedly shortly, but provided no exact date. (Pajhwok)