Describing India as a key regional player, the Obama administration on Friday said it is important for the US to keep the country informed on its policies towards Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Describing India as a key regional player, the Obama administration on Friday said it is important for the US to keep the country informed on its policies towards Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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"Obviously India plays a very key role in the region and it is important for them to be kept apprised of everything that's occurring," Daniel F Feldman, Deputy to Special US Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke, told foreign correspondents at a special briefing.
Feldman said Holbrooke has frequent communication with his counterparts and others in India. "He tries to stop there ... when he is in the region to continue the conversations and update the Indian government on what he is doing and to be inclusive in efforts that is going on," he said.
"So the role and importance of India is certainly recognised, but his portfolio is solely Afghanistan and Pakistan," Feldman said, insisting that Holbrooke's title is Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. "There is nothing about India in there. His focus is exclusively on those two countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan," he said.
Holbrooke is slated to travel to Afghanistan and Pakistan, along with the Middle East next week. But India is not on his itinerary this time. "There's been nothing about India announced thus far. But he will be in the region for several days," Feldman said.
He appreciated India's role in Afghanistan. "I think the role of India, which I don't know as specifically on agriculture, but I think one of these very, very successful inaugural projects was this export of apples grown in Afghanistan to India and certainly a model that we would like to replicate."
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