Aware of India's "genuine national security interest" in Afghanistan, the Obama Administration has said it has invited both New Delhi and Islamabad to be engaged and support the transition process in the war-torn nation; where US intends to transfer the security to Afghan forces by 2014.
"Our strategy is a regional strategy and we have invited, countries from Pakistan to India to be engaged in and support this transition in Afghanistan," State Department spokesman, P J Crowley, said in response to a question.
"That is perhaps the most significant change that we've put into effect over the last 18 months, almost two years, is to take it from being just about Afghanistan to being about the region as a whole," he said.
While the Obama Administration has been very appreciative of India's role in Afghanistan, this is possibly for the first time that a senior US official has said that India has been invited for the process in Afghanistan.
"India is significantly invested in Afghanistan, and we continue to encourage the role that India is playing to help Afghanistan develop its economy and improve its security.
But primarily just like we saw this week, where Canada announced that it's going to transition its existing military effort from a combat role to a training role, there are many other countries, some within NATO, some outside of NATO, who have provided military forces. We've asked if they can increase the number of trainers that they have committed to this effort," Crowley said in response to a question.
The US envision 2011 as the beginning of a transition where Afghanistan will take greater responsibility for its own security, culminating in Afghanistan leadership in its own security matters by 2014, he said, adding that this is important to Afghanistan, it's important to the region.
"The process between now and then is focused on helping to strengthen Afghanistan's government both at the national level and at the local level, building up critical institutions that include, you know, both military capabilities and police capabilities," Crowley said.
"This has the ability to help continue the transformation of this region. So it has benefits for Afghanistan, but as Afghanistan stabilizes, it has obviously, you know, benefits that accrue to other countries, including Pakistan, including India and others.
"As you build up institutions and they perform, you can expect to see improvements in the Afghan economy and the export of Afghan goods to other countries in the region," Crowley said.
