India’s work in Afghanistan limited to economic assistance only: US

WASHINGTON - Rubbishing Pakistan’s stand that India is providing military training to the Afghan forces, the United States has said that New Delhi’s help to Kabul is limited only to economic assistance.

“I’m not sure that India’s providing that much training to the Afghan army. The vast majority of the assistance that the Indians are providing to Afghanistan is in the form of economic assistance,” Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake said while responding to question whether the US would relay Islamabad’s concerns during the inaugural US-India strategic dialogue here next week.

Blake commended India’s work in Afghanistan while describing it as a very important part of the international effort to help stabilise war torn Afghanistan.

“The US welcomes very much the assistance that India has provided and all of our cabinet-level officials have welcomed that and will continue to do so,” The Nation quoted Blake, as saying. (ANI)