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NEW DELHI : Defence Secretary Robert Gates promised Indian leaders in New Delhi that Washington will not abandon Afghanistan despite a timeline for the withdrawal of US troops, officials said.
In separate meetings with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna on Tuesday, Gates discussed "regional security" and offered reassurances over the target date of July 2011 for starting a drawdown of American forces, a US defence official said.
Gates, mindful of India's concerns about an early US exit, pledged the United States would remain committed to Kabul with major economic and diplomatic support even as its military presence is gradually scaled back after mid-2011, the official told reporters.
He told Singh and Krishna that "we intend to be involved in the region for a very long time," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The United States, which armed Afghan Islamic fighters against Soviet forces in the 1980s, had made the mistake of turning away from Afghanistan after the Soviets were driven out but would not repeat that mistake, Gates said, according to the official, who attended the meetings.
"The secretary anticipated (India's concern) ...and with both ministers was able to stress that mid-2011 was the beginning of a process, that we have learned from our experience in 1989, that we're not going to leave the region," the official said.
India's view was that Washington needed to "stay the course" in Afghanistan and Gates' comments "resonated very well" with his hosts, the official said.
The prime minister and foreign minister for their part offered to keep up India's major reconstruction aid for Afghanistan, the official said.
Before landing in New Delhi for his two-day visit, Gates described India as a vital strategic partner fighting the threat posed by Islamist militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Gates, who was due to meet Defence Minister A.K. Antony on Wednesday, also discussed expanding military cooperation with India to include joint efforts to safeguard sea lanes and ports, cyber networks and space, the official said.
"We want to develop cooperative programmes particularly in the maritime area, the cyberspace area and the space area," the official said, without offering more details.
The 2008 attacks on Mumbai, which left 166 dead and which India has blamed on the Pakistan-based Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, underlined the importance of maritime security, he said.
"The attack in Mumbai came from the sea. So there's a definite need to track the movement of people who want to do harm to us out there," the official said.
US officials said the visit reflected a blossoming relationship between the two countries that has dramatically transformed since the mutual unease of the Cold War.
Defence ties have expanded following the attacks of September 11, 2001, and a deal in July between the two countries helped clear the way for the sale of hi-tech US weaponry to India.
Gates told the prime minister and foreign minister that there were more opportunities for defence trade and promised to help remove US legal barriers blocking India's access to some military technology, defence officials said.
A number of cooperation agreements were under discussion that would permit India to purchase a wider array of weaponry with sophisticated technology, the officials said.
The Pentagon chief wanted "to enable India to take advantage of the best technology that we can offer," the defence official said.
Gates cited the recent sale of US-made transport planes to India as a success and said American industry appeared "well-situated" in a competition for a lucrative contract to build fighter jets for India, the official said.
- AFP /ls
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