India Will Carry on Relief, Reconstruction Works in Afghanistan: Menon
National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon has made it clear that India will carry on its relief and reconstruction operations in Afghanistan, said media reports.
“India will continue to help restore the economy and democracy, and build projects that help the Afghan people and also find ways to do it in the environment that existed there today,” he was quoted as saying.
He made the statement while releasing the book ‘India’s National Security Annual Review 2009’ by Satish Kumar.
Menon asserted that India was doing what Afghans desired and said, “We will continue to do that, but we will find different ways of doing it, which enable us to continue to do it in that environment.”
In response to a query regarding the status of engagement with Pakistan in the wake of recent foreign secretary level talks, he ruled out restarting the composite dialogue process anytime soon, reports said.
“Frankly to just go back to doing the composite dialogue exactly as it was when it ended up in 26/11 and other incidences like that, to our mind, it does not make sense,” he was quoted as saying.
“We have to learn from history, from what’s happened to you, what you are doing. So that’s why we are talking. Which is why the whole point of those (Foreign Secretary level) talks was to explore what’s possible and where we can go with it. But I cannot describe to you or the outcome because it takes two hands to clap,” he was quoted as saying.
(Based on media reports)
