WASHINGTON - Afghan security forces could benefit from training by Indian experts, the top American diplomat in New Delhi said on Friday, ahead of next week's Indo-US strategic dialogue.
"On the training, I think there's a recognition that the Afghan forces can benefit from training inside India," US Ambassador to India Nancy Powell said at the Centre for American Progress -- a Washington-based think-tank.

She added: "This is being done in a variety of ways with both the police and officers. So I think there was recognition of the benefit of this and a desire to diversify the training that the Afghans were receiving; the Indians made that offer."

Participating in the discussion along with Powell, Indian Ambassador Nirupama Rao said Afghanistan represented a security challenge to all in the region, given that there had been a history of turbulence, instability, violence and terrorism in that country.

"And all of us stakeholders have an interest in seeing a peaceful Afghanistan would not like to see any regression or reversion to the situation as obtained in that country before 2001," the diplomat said.

India and the United States are in close cooperation and consultation on Afghanistan, Rao said. "We consult with each other regularly about the situation in Afghanistan and how we can work together, all of us in the region, to strengthen Afghanistan's capacity to deal with forces that are anti-progress and do not want peace or stability in Afghanistan..."

In Afghanistan, she said, India had adopted the policy of "invest and endure." Afghanistan's development was a primary goal for India, she explained. "The investments that we have made, the commitments in development cooperation that we have made in the last few years are evidence of that." (Pajhwok)