India has 'constructive' role in Afghanistan: US

Washington, Oct 19: Brushing aside Pakistan's reservations, the US has said it views India's role in Afghanistan as "constructive" and wants all the three nations to pull in the same direction for the war-torn country's stability.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner asserted that the situation in South Asia was not a zero-sum game.

"We need good, solid, constructive relations between all the countries of that region, all of them pulling in the same direction so that all countries can reap the economic benefits that good, sound relations will yield. But also it's important to emphasise that there's this is not a zero-sum game. We need all the countries of the region to work productively to harness the economic potential of that region," Toner said when asked to comment on India's strategic partnership with Afghanistan.

Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai was in India, and he forged a strategic partnership with it and signed a bunch of economic agreements with New Delhi.

The US views "building of relations between these countries of the region we view as constructive," he said.

When asked whether US has any role in agreements inked between India and Afghanistan, he said, "I don't have specifics on any role we might have played...We're trying to promote a more constructive dialogue between these countries in the region. Again, it's not a zero-sum game. It's important that they all pull in the same direction."

PTI