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What Afghanistan Needs Is Broad-based Government: Indian PM
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said here on Saturday that his country supports establishment of a broad-based government in Afghanistan, which is under the cloud of an eminent strike by a multi-country coalition led by the United States.
Following his 35-minute talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Vajpayee told a joint press conference that "what Afghanistan needs is a broad-based government," which represents all ethnic groups and does not have export insurgency and extremism as its core ideology.
Vajpayee described his talks with Blair as "meaningful" and " fruitful exchange of views," during which he bluntly told his counterpart that the international community should not let countries pursue their own terrorist agenda under the cover of global action against terrorism.
"Even while extending our whole-hearted support to the pursuit of the guilty terrorists of September 11, we should not let countries pursue their own terrorist agenda under cover of this action," the Indian leader said.
New Delhi would remain vigilant against such threats and would counter them decisively, Vajpayee said in the brief conference.
India repeatedly said that it had waged a virtually lone struggle against terrorism for over two decades and it was the worst victim of terrorism, especially what it termed as "cross- border terrorism."
"We believe that in this globalized world, distance and time do not provide insulation from the reach of terrorism," the prime minister declared.
Asserting that India was not in favor of terrorism being tackled in isolation, Vajpayee said, "we are fighting a global war against terrorism and there has to be global solution to it."
Blair, who arrived here late Friday night after a four-hour visit to Pakistan, express his support to India's stand that terrorism in "all its forms" should be fought by the international coalition.
The terrorist acts like the bomb blast on October 1 in Srinagar, capital of India-controlled Kashmir, should be brought to justice, he said.
Blair spoke to Vajpayee last Wednesday through telephone, in which he strongly condemned the suicide car bomb attack, which killed some 40 people and injured more than 70.
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