Terrorism in Afghanistan originates from across the Afghan borders, said the Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan Vinay Kumar at a ceremony in Kabul on Monday, where the Acting Defense Minister Assadullah Khalid also attended.
Two days before the Indian envoy remarks, four attackers stormed the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in the center of Kabul that left at least seven dead. Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack.
“The Afghan National Army is certainly fighting for Afghanistan’s sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity against very venomous forces of terrorism which originate from outside Afghan borders, and in doing so, what Afghan National Army is doing is not only a service to their nation but also a service to the entire humanity,” Kumar said.
The Indian envoy reiterated that New Delhi is still committed to supporting Afghanistan militarily.
“So far we have trained nearly 1,500 officers of the Afghan army. Another 4,880 personnel of Afghan National Army including doctors and medical service providers have attended various courses in the Indian military and related academies,” he said.
The Acting Defense Minister said some neighboring countries are sending weapons and insurgency to Afghanistan while some others such as India are contributing to the development and reconstruction of the country.
“Some of our neighbors send us terrorism, rockets, and bullets which finally leads to the martyrdom and disability of our youths, but some of our friends such as India contribute in major economic and reconstruction projects including the establishment of dams, the construction of parliament building and solar energy projects for our people,” Khalid reiterated.
The Indian Embassy in Kabul said in a press release that as part of the ongoing defense cooperation under the aegis of the strategic partnership between India Afghanistan, the Indian envoy presented 100 motorized wheelchairs to disabled Afghan soldiers.
In 2015, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Afghanistan and inaugurated the new building for Afghanistan’s parliament and delivered a comprehensive speech on issues of common interests between the nations including bilateral ties, peace in Afghanistan and terrorism.
Modi emphasized at the time that Afghanistan-India relations are of important strategic significance, saying that Indian involvement in the country not aimed to compete but to contribute.
After inaugurating the new building of Afghanistan's parliament, Indian Prime Minister Modi officially handed over three attack helicopters to Afghanistan, with the fourth still to be delivered - reaffirming New Delhi's military cooperation to Afghanistan in the future as well.
India so far has contributed over $2 billion in Afghanistan’s reconstruction programs.