Washington: The United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the Indo-US Strategic Dialogue is a pivotal moment in bilateral ties, calling for more cooperation between the two countries on counter-terrorism.
Afghanistan tops the agenda of the first-ever Indo-US Strategic Dialogue that began here on Thursday evening as Clinton assured that India's concerns about US pullout from the war-ravaged country will be addressed. She said India and the US have to walk together on Afghanistan.
Both Clinton and India's External Affairs Minister S M Krishna made it clear that India's role in Afghanistan would be a key focus of the meeting.
During the dialogue, the two sides vowed to strengthen cooperation in security, military, nuclear energy, climate change, education and agriculture. Hailing India's contribution towards rebuilding of Afghanistan, she sought to allay "doubts" that the US sees India only in the "context" of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"In this dialogue, we will confront regional issues, most importantly securing Afghanistan's future. India and the US and countries of the world have a stake in Afghanistan and India's contribution to Afghanistan's future, including 1.3 billion dollar assistance have been positive and significant," Clinton said.
"India is a rising global power and already a regional power in Asia. Thus more the need to work closely with India to meet the immediate challenges in the neighborhood including Afghanistan," she said.
"We have a stake in a stable Afghanistan and India's investment in Afghanistan's future have been positive. India and the US want to work together to make a workable regional architecture, must protect vital sea and air routes, and respond faster to natural disasters," she added.
Krishna highlighted India's role in Afghanistan, adding more cooperation between the two democracies required to counter terrorism. Without naming any country, he said the epicentre of terrorism lies in India's neighbourhood and it has to be taken note of while preparing strategy to counter terrorism worldwide.
"The global nature of security challenges that we face today, particularly the threat posed by transnational terrorism, requires us to cooperate more closely than ever before. Though the epicentre of this threat lies in India's neighbourhood, it reaches far and wide all across the world," Krishna said.
"We have a stake in a stable Afghanistan and India's contribution to Afghanistan has been significant. India is building Afghanistan's new parliament building and India and American groups are working together to help bring Afghan engineers bring greater source of electricity to Kabul," he added.
"India and the US must play a leading role in shaping the destiny of the 21st century," he added.
Krishna noted that the institution of the Strategic Dialogue was a reflection of the deepening and broadening of our relations between the two countries.
"We both have an abiding interest in a stable international order and in the maintenance of peace and stability in Asia and beyond, and a tremendous opportunity is now before us to work together to achieve this objective," he said.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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