New Delhi, July 22 (IANS) Lauding New Delhi’s role in stabilising Afghanistan, US Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke Thursday said India was ‘not being diminished’ to the advantage of Pakistan in the war-torn country.
‘India is not being diminished. It’s not a zero sum game,’ Holbrooke told reporters here when asked about India’s concerns on the contentious proposal for reconciliation with the Taliban and Pakistan’s growing role in the process.
Holbrooke, who is US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, assured that neither Pakistan nor the Taliban are going to take over Afghanistan.
The US envoy, however, admitted that Pakistan has an important role in stabilising Afghanistan, but added that it did not detract from India’s contribution in reconstruction of that country.
‘You can’t stabilise Afghanistan without Pakistan’s support as a concerned, legitimate partner,’ he said and added: ‘India has a major role to play in stability in the region and in search for solutions in Afghanistan.’
Holbrooke arrived in India on a two-day visit Wednesday after participating in an international conference in Kabul on the future of Afghanistan.
The Afghan situation and India’s role in shifting power equations in Afghanistan figured in the discussions between Holbrooke and National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon Wednesday night.
Holbrooke’s visit comes against the backdrop of India’s growing concerns over Pakistan’s increasingly prominent role in the reintegration and reconciliation plan of the Afghan government.
India pitched for ‘an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned’ peace and reintegration process in Afghanistan at the Kabul conference Tuesday and reminded the world of the need for this process to be ‘inclusive and transparent’.
