Thaindian News

New Delhi, Oct 5 (IANS) A day after he signed a landmark strategic pact with India to boost security and economic cooperation, Afghan President Hamid Karzai Wednesday reached out to “twin brother” Pakistan, saying the accord won’t harm relations with Islamabad.

“Pakistan is our twin brother, India is a great friend. The agreement we signed with our friend will not affect our brother,” Karzai said in a speech on India-Afghanistan relations here amid Pakistan’s anxiety about New Delhi’s growing influence in a country it has long regarded as its strategic depth.

“This strategic partnership is not directed against any country … This strategic partnership is to support Afghanistan,” he said in a delicate balancing act that sought greater engagement with New Delhi without antagonizing Islamabad.

“Neither India nor Afghanistan intend the pact to be beyond the two countries,” he said.

Karzai stressed that the pact, which envisages an annual security dialogue, training for the Afghan national security forces and deeper ties across the political and economic spectrum, will enable Afghanistan to benefit from “India’s strength” and help it to train its police and youth.

Karzai was delivering the third R.K. Mishra Memorial lecture, organised by the Observer Research Foundation, at the Maurya Sheraton hotel here.

External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna, who chaired the lecture, stressed that India will continue to be Afghanistan’s partner in peace and development in accordance with Afghan priorities.

Krishna said India will remain steadfast “despite persistent attacks on Indian interests engineered by forces inimical to the India-Afghan friendship”.

Alluding to the phased draw-down of international troops by 2014, Karzai stressed that Afghanistan was already in negotiations with the US and the 27-nation European Union to firm up strategic partnership agreements to ensure its security and stability.

By 2013 or 2014, Afghanistan will be entirely responsible for its own security in cooperation with countries and partners like the US, Europe, India, Japan, Russia and Saudi Arabia, said Karzai.

Amid fraying relations with Pakistan over suspected role of ISI-aided militant networks in the assassination of his peace envoy, former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani, Karzai reached out to Islamabad and stressed the importance of dialogue to resolve tricky issues.

“It’s relevant that Pakistan and Afghanistan sit down and discuss who is causing it (terrorism). We can find a way out of the unfortunate environment of suspicion,” he said, while adding that Pakistan was also “suffering from exactly the same menace (terrorism) as we are”.

Karzai, however, did not elaborate on his new strategy of reconciliation with the Taliban that suffered a big blow after the Sep 20 killing of Rabbani.

“We have now decided not to talk to the Taliban because we don’t know their address. When we find them, we will talk to them. Therefore, we have decided to talk to our brothers, our neighbours, in Pakistan,” Karzai said.

“The peace process will now be focused more on relations between countries … than on individuals we cannot find.”

Outlining his vision of Afghanistan as a trade and transit hub, Karzai said he believed in the region “where there are no borders and where the youth’s energies are channelized for prosperity and peace”.

Calling for regional connectivity and prosperity, he alluded to working together to make Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s “vision of breakfast in Amritsar, lunch in Lahore and dinner in Kabul” a reality.

“This region has massive potential for growth. At the same time, this region has the most negative trends,” said Karzai, while stressing on the need to jointly combat terrorism.

Karzai later headed to Kabul after wrapping up his two-day visit to India.