India stresses people-to-people ties with Afghanistan

KABUL (Pajhwok): People-to-people contacts are the foundation of its historical relationship with Afghanistan, says India.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said India was supporting Afghans with humanitarian assistance, including food, essential medicines and pesticides.

He told Kazinform News Agency in Astana: “I think some of the concerns raised at the SCO summit are very valid. And we are trying to address that…”

For many years, he said, India had been helping Afghanistan in terms of capacity building and activities like sports, as part of people-to-people connections between the two nations.

“We continue to supply medicine to the hospitals in Afghanistan … There is a problem with food. We supply wheat to a number of people. There had been a locust attack. We get pesticides to them…”

Jaishankar also underlined the importance of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) for India in fostering ancient cultural and people-to-people ties with the Central Asian region.

PAN Monitor/mud

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