India rejects Donald Trump's jibe at PM Modi, says it plays 'significant role' in Afghanistan

New Delhi, Jan 3: India on Thursday rejected US President Donald Trump's jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over funding of a "library" in the war-ravaged country.

"India has been implementing a range of mega infrastructure projects as well as carrying out community development programmes in Afghanistan as per requirement of its people. They said such assistance would go a long way in making the country economically empowered and stable," the government said.

"India may be building small libraries as part of the community development initiative, but most of its investments in Afghanistan were on mega infrastructure projects including the 218 km road from Zaranj to Delaram, the Salma Dam and the new Afghan Parliament building," PTI reported quoting sources.

India has also been supplying military equipment to Afghanistan besides providing training to hundreds of Afghan security personnel.

"India plays a significant role in the country as its development partner and that the partnership is built on the specific needs and requirements worked out with the Afghan government," it said.

Besides mega infrastructure projects, India is implementing 116 new 'High Impact Community Development Projects' in 31 provinces of Afghanistan, including in the areas of education, health, agriculture, irrigation, drinking water, renewable energy, flood control, micro-hydropower, sports infrastructure, administrative infrastructure.

Trump took a jibe at Modi for funding a "library" in Afghanistan, saying it is of no use in the war-torn country as he criticised India and others for not doing enough for the nation's security.

In his first cabinet meeting in the new year Wednesday, Trump asked India, Russia, Pakistan and other neighbouring countries to take responsibility for Afghanistan's security as he defended his push for the US to invest less overseas.

Trump referred to Modi as an example of how world leaders are talking about their contributions that were nowhere near the "billions of dollars" the US was spending.