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India ‘close friend’ but Pak ‘conjoined twin’, says Afghanistan

“India is a close friend of Afghanistan but Pakistan is a twin brother of Afghanistan. We are more than twins, we are conjoined twins. There is no separation, there cannot be a separation,” he said in response to a question during a joint news conference with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

At the same time, Karzai, who was here on a two-day visit, made it clear that India and Afghanistan have “very close friendly relations.”

Noting that he had provided details of the cooperation between the two countries to Gilani, Karzai said: “India has gone out of its way to help Afghanistan with reconstruction and to offer Afghan youth education in India.”

“Afghanistan will not allow its territory to be used against any one of our neighbours, in particular against Pakistan. And we hope the same will reflect towards Afghanistan that Pakistani territory will not be used against Afghanistan,” Karzai said.

Pakistan’s top leadership, including Gilani and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, have often spoken of concerns related to India’s presence in Afghanistan.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik has alleged that Indian elements were directing terror attacks on Pakistan from Afghanistan.

However, Karzai said Afghanistan would act “if there is any information of any country, not only India, using Afghan territory against a neighbour.”

He also said Pakistan should be aware that there cannot be peace and stability within its territory “without a stable and peaceful Afghanistan.”

“The bottom line is that Afghanistan does not want any proxy wars on its territory. It does not want a proxy war between India and Pakistan (or) between Iran and the US.