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India offers to help raise Afghan army
By Our Special Correspondent
The Afghanistan Deputy Defence Minister, Abdul Rashid Dostum, with the Foreign Secretary, Chokila Iyer, in New Delhi on Thursday. - AFP
NEW DELHI, JAN. 31. India today offered assistance to Afghanistan for raising its army. This offer was made by the Defence Minister, George Fernandes, during his meeting with Afghanistan's visiting Deputy Defence Minister, Rashid Dostum.
According to the External Affairs Ministry spokesperson, India is looking at providing military training to Afghans. India has already offered to train a part of the police force. In fact, Afghanistan's Interior Minister, Younus Qanooni, had visited the National Police Academy in Hyderabad in December and the Foreign Minister, Abdullah Abdullah, had also come over.
Analysts here point out that Gen. Dostum's visit is likely to deepen India's ties with the Uzbek element of the multi-ethnic Northern Alliance. The Tajiks and Hazaras are the other two ethnic communities that find prominence within the Northern Alliance, now called the United Front. Gen. Dostum, a leader of ethnic Uzbeks, exercises considerable influence in Northern Afghanistan.
Keen to ensure that the Uzbek flank of the Alliance is not neglected, India has sent its doctors to a government hospital in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif. India, for the first time, also plans to open a consulate in this city.
During talks with Mr. Fernandes, Gen. Dostum said that Afghanistan was seeking cooperation with India especially in the fields of information technology, communications, health and education. He also held talks with the Foreign Secretary, Chokila Iyer, and thanked her for India's support to Afghanistan.
India has pledged $100 millions for rebuilding Afghanistan's infrastructure apart from offering 100 million tonnes of wheat. Indian doctors are also in Kabul to revive the Indira Gandhi Hospital for Women and Children.
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