Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Thursday, March 28th, 2024

India Wants “Marshall Plan” to Help Rebuild Afghanistan: Report

India Wants “Marshall Plan” to Help Rebuild Afghanistan: Report

NEW DELHI - India has urged the international community to stay engaged long-term in Afghanistan to eliminate "sanctuaries of terror" there and called for a Marshall Plan-style initiative to help rebuild the impoverished nation, The Hindu reported on Tuesday.
According to the report, Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna told the Bonn conference on the future of Afghanistan on Monday that India has already pledged $2 billion in aid to Kabul and called on the international donors to continue to support Afghanistan.

"Afghanistan today faces at least four deficits: a security deficit, a governance deficit, a development deficit, and an investment deficit," said Krishna at the conference aimed at firming up a roadmap for Afghanistan's future beyond 2014, when international combat troops are expected to withdrawn.

"To address these deficits, Afghanistan needs time, development assistance, preferential access to world markets, foreign investment and a clear end-state and strategy to make sure that it does not once again plunge into lawlessness, civil war, and externally sponsored extremism and terrorism," he said, adding that "conceptually there is need for something like a Marshall Plan for Afghanistan, involving all the major stakeholders."

After the end of World War Two, the United States devised the Marshall Plan to provide monetary support to Europe to help rebuild its economies and to combat the spread of Soviet Communism. (Monitoring Desk)