US Secretary of Defence James Mattis pays homage at the Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate in New Delhi on Tuesday. PTI
Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, September 26
A month after the US unveiled its new Afghanistan policy and sought to rope in India for a wider role, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today categorically refused to deploy Indian troops in the war-ravaged country.“There shall not be boots from India on the ground (in Afghanistan),” said Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while addressing a joint press interaction with US Secretary of Defence James Mattis here. Sitharaman was responding to a question whether the US was seeking more contribution from India (in Afghanistan).(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)“Boots on the ground” is a military euphemism for putting troops to battleground. India has a 14 lakh-strong Army with experience in mountain warfare. The Indian line of not sending troops to Afghanistan has been consistent since 2001, when the US announced its war on terror post the 9/11 attacks.Sitharaman elaborated on how India had built dams, hospitals, schools, roads and the Parliament building in the war-torn country. “India’s contribution shall continue,” she asserted.Mattis and his delegation is the first Cabinet-level visit from the US to India since Donald Trump took over as President in January.Trump, speaking at a military event on August 21, had announced a new Afghanistan policy asking New Delhi “to help more with Afghanistan, especially in the area of economic assistance and development”.From India’s perspective, it is already part of the Russia-led six-nation group on consultations on reconciliation with the Taliban. At the military level, New Delhi has trained more than 4,000 Afghan army officers and provided them with helicopters and small arms.On Pakistan, Mattis buttressed India’s stance, saying there can be no tolerance of terror safe havens. As global leaders, India and the US have resolved to work together to eradicate this scourge, he said, without naming Pakistan.Calling terrorism a common problem affecting both nations, Mattis, a retired General, said: “Our countries recognise the threat that global terrorism poses to people throughout the world.” A statement later stressed the need for the two nations to come together to combat the scourge of terrorism.Earlier, without naming any country, both sides spoke about the freedom of navigation and resolution of disputes within the “rules-based global order”. This was in reference to the hydrocarbon-rich South China Sea and the ongoing dispute with China.On whether India raised the issue of continued US aid to Pakistan, Sitharaman said she had taken up the matter with her counterpart. “The same forces that find havens in Pakistan hit at New York and Mumbai. My request is that Secretary Mattis will be able to speak out when he visits Pakistan.”Secretary Mattis later called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and briefed him on the progress in advancing the bilateral agenda and implementing the decisions taken during Modi-Trump meeting in Washington this June.