By IANS,
Jammu : Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has called for greater Indian investment in education to help his nation overcome illiteracy.
This came out during an hour-long discussion that Vice Chancellor of Jammu University Amitabh Mattoo had with President Karzai in Kabul Wednesday, the university said in a release.
Mattoo, a professor of international relations and a visiting professor to various universities abroad, is on a three-day visit to Afghanistan. Mattoo, who is also a director of the Indo-Afghanistan Foundation, is meeting top leaders, intellectuals, thinkers and academicians in Kabul.
Karzai praised the Indian contribution to the reconstruction of Afghanistan, which was a scene of devastation caused by the protracted civil war and turmoil since 1979.
The Afghan president suggested to Mattoo that besides greater investment in education, Indian universities could further lift the education sector in Afghanistan by setting up off-site campuses in the country.
He said Afghan youth needed more and better institutions of higher learning and it was here that the Indian universities could step in.
President Karzai himself studied in the Himachal Pradesh University.
During the meeting, President Karzai also recalled Afghanistan’s historical links with Jammu and Kashmir and invited Zaimay Rasool, the national security advisor, to meet Mattoo.
Rasool’s great grandfather was the last Afghan governor in Jammu and Kashmir.