India playing important role in development of Afghan: US

WASHINGTON: The US says India has been playing a very "important role" in the development of Afghanistan post-Taliban, as the Obama Administration

WASHINGTON: The US says India has been playing a very "important role" in the development of Afghanistan post-Taliban, as the Obama Administration tries to involve New Delhi in its policy towards the war-torn country.

"India makes a very positive contribution towards Afghanistan's development," Gen Karl Eikenberry, President Barack Obama's nominee to be ambassador to Afghanistan, said here.

Elaborating India's contributions in Afghanistan, he said: "It has good agricultural programs. It's been a generous aid donor. It also has extraordinarily good capabilities of developing civil service and helping to educate Afghan bureaucrats." Being stationed in Afghanistan on two different occasions in various capacities, he has a first hand experience of the role being played by India in Afghanistan.

"Given its proximity, given its own interests, but given really its capabilities and the generosity it's shown to date, they have a very important role to play, as do all of Afghanistan's immediate neighbors and the neighbors in the near abroad," Eikenberry, the US commander in Afghanistan from 2005 to 2007 told the members of the Committee in response to a question.

The Obama Administration has been trying to involve India in its policy towards Afghanistan. It has held consultations with Indian authorities in this regard.