By IANS,
New Delhi: Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai thanked India Tuesday for helping in reconstruction and rehabilitation of his country in the past 10 years.
Thanking India for helping in the construction of its new parliament building last year, Karzai said: “The signing of strategic partnership agreement between the two nations is significant.”
Karzai, who is on a two-day visit to India, also thanked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for signing important memorandums of understanding in the field of minerals, oils and gas.
He specially mentioned that the youth of Afghanistan are happy with India, which has granted 2,000 scholarships to them for the next five years.
“We hope India will add to this contribution,” Karzai told reporters at a joint press briefing along with Manmohan Singh.
He expressed hope for similar cooperation with other countries of the region, and said Afghanistan would work closely with India for the region’s prosperity.
Karzai also thanked India for sending Law Minister Salman Khurshid as special envoy to condole the recent assassination of former Afghanistan president Burhanuddin Rabbani.