India-Afghanistan sign new deal

Afghan President Hamid Karzai ended a trip to India with a strategic economic and security partnership agreement he said will bring Afghanistan closer to India.Karzai's visit to New Delhi, his second this year, came as Afghanistan's relations with neighbor Pakistan, a rival of India, remain tense over the Taliban insurgency and the Haqqani Network, which U.S. officials say enjoys safe havens in Pakistan. Karzai signed the agreement with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.The agreement, envisioning "the elevation of the multifaceted ties between the two countries to higher levels," will include security cooperation between the two countries in the "fight against international terrorism, organized crime, illegal trafficking in narcotics, money laundering … ."India, noting Afghanistan deserves to live in peace "without outside interference, coercion and intimidation," agreed "to assist … in the training, equipping and capacity building programs for Afghan National Security Forces," the agreement said.The two sides said the "Strategic Partnership … is not directed against any other state or group of states."India, which has pledged assistance of as much as $2 billion to Afghanistan, committed "to continue its assistance to the development and capacity building efforts in Afghanistan."Karzai later sought to assure Pakistan about the agreement, The New York Times reported."Pakistan is a twin brother, India is a great friend," Karzai said at a speech in New Delhi. "The agreement that we signed yesterday with our friend will not affect our brother."Former Indian Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal, speaking at a conference in London, said, "Pakistan continues to press the international community to reduce India's role in Afghanistan, but that position has been effectively rejected by the United States," CNN reported."We have no interest in getting involved in the military situation in Afghanistan, so Pakistan has no reason to worry," Sibal said.Afghanistan's issues with Pakistan include last month's assassination in Kabul of Burhanuddin Rabbani, who was leading the High Peace Council in the reconciliation process with the Taliban. Islamabad has denied Kabul's accusation that Pakistan's spy agency was involved in the assassination.The India-Afghanistan agreement could further solidify Pakistan's view of Afghanistan as a staging post for Indian intelligence operations, analyst James Brazier at the IHS Global Insight in the United States, told the Financial Times."It will boost the arguments of Pakistani hardliners who view Karzai as a pawn of India who Pakistan should try to topple by any means necessary," he said.