Shashi Tharoor praises Sushma Swaraj over Afghanistan visit

New Delhi, Sept 12: Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram and former Union minister

has welcomed Minister of External Affairs

's recent visit to

, saying the latter, like former BJP prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, has followed the Nehruvian style of foreign policy.

In an opinionated piece in NDTV titled 'Well Done, Sushmaji' [read full article here], the former United Nations diplomat said: "The news that Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj has made a successful visit to Afghanistan this week should gladden the hearts of all of us in the Opposition who believe that our political differences stop at the water's edge and the border line. When it comes to India's national interests, there is no Congress foreign policy or BJP foreign policy - there is, or should be, only India's foreign policy.

This was already amply demonstrated at the time of the very first non-Congress government in 1977, when the Janata Party Foreign Minister of the time, Atal Behari Vajpayee, conducted a Nehruvian foreign policy with style and grace. Sushma Swaraj shows every sign - in Nepal, in Bangladesh and now in Afghanistan - of doing the same."

Swaraj visited the war-torn country, which is going through a democratic transition, earlier this week and spoke to outgoing president Hamid Karzai over the political and security situation. She said India is committed to help Afghanistan and added that the Narendra Modi government in India did not need to change the country's policy towards Kabul.

It was Sushma Swaraj's first visit to Afghanistan.

Oneindia News