Islamabad, March 11: In a delicate balancing act, President Hamid Karzai today described India as a “close friend” while referring to Pakistan and Afghanistan as “conjoined twins.”
In remarks apparently aimed at assuaging Pakistan’s concerns about the Indian presence in Afghanistan, Karzai said his country would never allow its soil to be used for activities directed against any of its neighbours.
“India is a close friend of Afghanistan but Pakistan is a twin brother of Afghanistan. We are more than twins, we are conjoined twins. There is no separation, there cannot be a separation,” he said in response to a question during a joint news conference with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
At the same time, Karzai, who was here on a two-day visit, made it clear that India and Afghanistan have “very close friendly relations.
–PTI