Afghan President Slams Suspicious Pakistan, Thanks India for $1 billion Aid

Afghanistan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani sought greater regional cooperation in South Asia and took a swipe at Pakistan, saying it should not feel threatened by bilateral cooperation between India and Afghanistan.

“We do not have agreed rule of the game between states (countries). South Asia has this misfortune,” Ghani said today (15 September) while delivering a lecture on ‘Fifth Wave of Political Violence and Global Terrorism’ at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses in New Delhi.

Taking a dig at Pakistan, he said: “If a country is feeling threatened by cooperation of two peace-loving nations, that country (Pakistan) has to change.”

“Afghanistan is no longer a land-locked country. Pakistan also has to embrace an open system. Pakistan is not a land-locked country. It has sea in the border but it often behaves like a land-locked country,” he said.

Ghani said collaboration between India and Afghanistan is for stability in the region and it is “transparent” and guided by “common values” and “common threat”.

Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement of $1 billion assistance to the poorest section of Afghanistan, Ghani said: “Earlier Prime Minister Modi tweeted that 1.2 billion Indians are behind Afghanistan. Now, it has been transformed into $1 billion assistance that means every Indian is now contributing about a dollar for Afghanistan.”