India and Afghanistan Signed Strategic Partnership Agreements

On 4 October 2011 India signed three agreements with Afghanistan for both the countries greater strategic partnership. The agreements were singed between Afghanistan President, Hamid Karzai and India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in new Delhi when President Karzai was on a two day visit to India.

Name of the Agreements
•    Agreement on Strategic Partnership between India and Afghanistan
•    MoU on Cooperation in the Field of Development of Hydrocarbons
•    MoU on Cooperation in the Field of Mineral Resources Development

The Three Agreements signed were to create an institutional framework for our future cooperation in the fields of political and security cooperation, trade and economic cooperation, capacity building and education, and social, cultural, civil society and people- to-people relations.

Both the countries agreed for Afghanistan's economic integration with the Indian economy and South Asia as a whole to be in the national interest of the people of Afghanistan. One of the ways to achieve this was agreed to be to promote closer trade, investment and transit links.

The two countries discussed the recent spurt in violence in Afghanistan and Pakistan's role in fomenting terror in Afghanistan.

India and Afghanistan took into account a proposed exit by international forces in 2014 while signing the agreement. India committed to stand by the people of Afghanistan as they prepare to assume the responsibility for their governance and security after the withdrawal of international forces in 2014.

The strategic agreement also comprised joint initiatives on key international issues and support for UN reforms, including permanent seat for India in the UN Security Council.