Washington, January 29: US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates discussed the need for New Delhi to be transparent in regards to Indian activities in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said on Wednesday. The Defense Department also discounted the role of India in a security training capacity in Afghanistan.
“We discussed Afghanistan with the government in Delhi, and discussed the need for the Indian government to be as transparent as they can be with the Pakistani government about their activities in Afghanistan,” Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said on Wednesday. He echoed statements made by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on the issue during his visit to New Delhi last week that appeared to discount the notion of India contributing military training and deploying troops in Afghanistan.
In response to a question concerning the role of India in Afghanistan, Morrell clarified that though India had “clearly contributed much in the monetary sense, financial support to the government” the possibility of the Indian army providing military training in Afghanistan was not a matter that “anybody is pursuing at this point.”
At a press conference held in New Delhi, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said that Pakistan and India were mutually deeply suspicious of each other in terms of activities on the ground in Afghanistan, and that there needed to be “full transparency” between the two nations.
–Agencies–