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India may help Kabul in policing
By Our Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI, DEC. 7. Pleased to make early personal contact with the proposed interim administration in Afghanistan, India today extended its fullest possible support to the reconstruction and stabilisation of the war-torn nation.
The visiting Afghan leader, Mr. Yunus Qanooni, who will take charge later this month as the Interior Minister in Kabul, today called on the External Affairs Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh, and the Union Home Minister, Mr. L.K. Advani.
Official sources say the talks with Mr. Qanooni did not go into the details of possible Indian assistance to Afghanistan. That discussion is likely to come up only after the interim administration formally takes over Kabul on December 22.
One potential area of Indian assistance is likely to be in helping Afghanistan train and build a modern police force that will be needed immediately in Kabul and other Afghan cities to maintain law and order.
India has had considerable experience in participating in policing operations under the United Nations flag in recent years.
Sources in the Government say the meetings established preliminary contact and offered an opportunity for the Indian leaders to ``extend India's best wishes'' to the new rulers.
Both Mr. Singh and Mr. Advani expressed the hope that the new leadership in Kabul would ``seize the historic opportunity'' to promote peace and prosperity in Afghanistan.
Speaking to the press after his talks with Mr. Singh, the Afghan leader thanked India for its ``timely help'' and said he was ``happy to be here among friends.''
``People in Afghanistan will never forget the assistance extended by India in a difficult period,'' Mr. Qanooni added.
Mr. Singh said, ``India remained fully committed to help the new administration in all regards. India's offer for reconstruction in Afghanistan is without conditions.''
Mr. Singh was pleased with the first-hand exchange of views and assessment from Mr. Qanooni, who had come directly from the Bonn talks.
Asked about his plans to visit Kabul, Mr. Singh said he would visit the place ``at the right time''. On India's participation in a multinational force in Afghanistan, Mr. Singh said a decision on it would be taken by the interim administration.
Talking to the media after meeting Mr. Advani, Mr. Qanooni said, ``the Government of Pakistan should know that its policy of terrorism in Afghanistan has failed. This is the time for Islamabad to review its strategy of the past.'' The Afghan leader downplayed the reported dissent against the interim administration from the outgoing Afghan President, Mr. Burhanuddin Rabbani, and the Uzbek leader, Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum.
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