KABUL - President Hamid Karzai on his trip to New Delhi this week met with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to encourage him to provide military equipment to Afghanistan. However, so far he has not had much success.

Reportedly, New Delhi wants to avoid getting swept up in Afghanistan's challenges, as supplying military equipment could irritate neighboring countries, especially Pakistan.

Just as Salman Khurshid, the Indian Foreign Minister, said that New Delhi doesn't want to provide weapons to Afghanistan at the moment, the Presidential Palace in Kabul has reported agreement between two sides on security and defensive cooperation along with training of the Afghan forces.

"Among the issues that were discussed between the sides, one was security and defensive cooperation," Karzai's Deputy Spokesperson Faiq Wahidi said. "Both sides agreed that training and meeting the needs of Afghanistan's security forces in equipment and infrastructural parts must increase."

President Karzai presented New Delhi with a list of military equipment in May. This list included heavy weaponry such as tanks, ground vehicles and helicopters. That request was originally declined by India.

Kabul has good relations with New Delhi, but reportedly Pakistan considers this closeness a threat. As the two countries develop good economic ties, Kabul has started pushing strategic programs for security relations with New Delhi. (Tolo News)