Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai (R) being greeted by Jeddah Governor Prince Meshaal bin Majid as he arrives in Jeddah December 6, 2005. Leaders of Muslim countries began to arrive in the Saudi port city of Jeddah for the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) extraordinary summit. REUTERS/Zainal Abd Halim

President Karzai Leaves for Saudi Arabia - Release: 06 December 2005

Arg, Kabul – H.E. Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, left for Saudi Arabia this morning to attend the “Third Extraordinary Session of the Islamic Summit” which will be held on 7 to 8 December 2005 in Jeddah.

During this session, the President will address the challenges confronting the Islamic countries, the need for greater cooperation between all Islamic countries and the need for more education for Muslims around the world.

The President appreciated the initiative by King Abdullah to call for the convening of this Extraordinary Islamic Summit Conference under the umbrella of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

During this visit, the President will meet with King Abdullah and other Muslim leaders from around the world. The President will also visit the shrine of Prophet Muhammad in Medina.

The President is accompanied on this trip by H.E. Dr Abdullah Abdullah, Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Zalmai Rasol, National Security Advisor, H.E. Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta, Senior Advisor to the President on International Affairs and H.E. Jawed Ludin, Chief of Staff to the President.

Released by the Office of the Spokesman to the President Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

Afghan Parliament To Open On Dec. 19 - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

December 6 2005-- Officials in Kabul announced today that Afghanistan's National Assembly will convene on December 19, three months after the nation held parliamentary elections for the first time in more than 30 years.

Azizullah Ludin, head of the parliament secretariat, said the reconstructed parliament building, which last housed the legislature in 1973, is ready for the opening. Afghans elected a 249-seat lower parliament house, the Wolesi Jirga, in the landmark September 18 vote. The 102-seat upper chamber, the Meshrano Jirga, will be a mix of presidential appointees and representatives elected by provincial councils.

Renovating and equipping the parliament building, which was damaged when rival factions fought for Kabul in the 1990s, has cost over three million dollars.

Afghan cabinet passes new investment law to boost reconstruction

Washington (AFP) - The Afghanistan cabinet has approved a new law to protect investors' rights as the government pushes forward with reconstruction in the war-torn country, Commerce Minister Hedayat Amin Arsala said.

"I am happy to announce that a new law on domestic and foreign investment was passed by the cabinet two weeks ago and would be enacted after the president's signature," he told a forum in Washington, without giving a firm date for its implementation.

Arsala, also a senior advisor to President Hamid Karzai, said on Monday the law would provide "even more encouraging protection of investors". Despite his assurance however, the Afghan government came under attack at the forum for not doing enough to help investors.

"The government of Afghanistan is the biggest obstacle for the private sector today -- the lack of capacity, professionalism and corruption and (existence) of (oudated) rules and regulations," charged Abdullah Nadi, president of the Afghan Builders Association.

He said his company had pumped in seven million dollars on apartment projects in Afghanistan over the last four and a half years. "We have not received anything from the government but obstacles and lip service," he said.

"It costs us a lot more because of obstacles government creates every day," Nadi said, directly addressing the issue to Arsala.

The minister admitted that government capacity was lacking and that there were some in the administration who refused to cooperate with and "were jealous" of the private sector". “nfortunately lack of capacity is a big problem," he said.

Another investor, Barrie Nadi, the president of a US food group who attended the forum, said his company's plans to set up a 10 million dollar soya bean cultivation project was on schedule so far.

"Cultivation probably will begin in May or June," he said adding that the New York-based company Nice Blends also planned to set up a plant to process soya bean bought from the farmers.

Despite a flood of billions of dollars in aid after the collapse of the Taliban in a US-led invasion, Afghanistan remains one of the poorest countries in the world.

Arsala was here to participate in the first round of talks with US trade officials under a bilateral Trade and Investment Framework Agreement. The agreement signed in September last year provides a mechanism to institutionalize US-Afghan bilateral discussions on trade and investment, officials said.

Through this agreement, a joint US-Afghan Council has been created to set out basic principles guiding the bilateral trade dialogue, they said.

The United States, which led the invasion that toppled the hardline Taliban government in 2001 after it refused to hand over Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden for the September 11 attacks, is the biggest backer of Afghanistan's reconstruction effort.

It leads an international coalition of about 20,000 troops hunting down remnants of the Taliban and other anti-government militants.

Call to delay Afghan aid summit - By Andrew North BBC News, Kabul

A major meeting on Afghanistan's future to be held in London in January should be postponed, an Afghan MP has said. Ramazan Bashardost argues key decisions are being taken before the new parliament has held its first meeting.

The former planning minister was speaking after talks on regional reconstruction aid had ended in Kabul. MPs were elected in September, with results in November. Parliament is due to sit this month, but may not meet again until winter is over. Some newly-elected parliamentarians are concerned that decisions are being taken before the new assembly has a chance to scrutinise them.

Chief among those voicing concerns is Mr Bashardost, now one of Kabul's 33 MPs and a vocal critic of what he says has been widespread corruption and mis-spending of international aid funds for Afghanistan's reconstruction.

Key decisions on the next stage in this aid effort are being taken now, in the run-up to the London conference on 31 January, where a new "compact" governing international help for Afghanistan for the next five years is due to be agreed.

It will commit both sides to so-called "benchmarks" of progress in areas like economic development, tackling the drugs trade and building up the police and judiciary. Yet although Mr Bashardost and his 248 fellow MPs were elected in September, they are not involved in these discussions, because the parliament has not yet had its first sitting.

It is not due to for another two weeks, on 19 December. And afterwards, it may not meet again until the end of the winter. Even the December date is not definite, with President Hamid Karzai yet to announce his nominees for 34 places in the parliament's upper house, or Meshrano Jirga. This could mean a delay to January at the earliest.

By then, most of the key decisions for the London conference, which Mr Karzai and British Prime Minister Tony Blair will attend, are likely to have been made.

Mr Bashardost says the international approach to rebuilding Afghanistan needs closer scrutiny. "It has been a disaster," he says. "There has been no change in the lives of most ordinary Afghan people."

He is calling for the London conference to be delayed, to allow the assembly to be fully involved. "We can wait one, two or maybe three months. Then Mr Karzai can start a dialogue with the Afghan parliament and we can decide together what to do."

However, Khaleeq Ahmad, a spokesman for President Karzai, rejected the idea of a delay. He said "some parliamentarians will be invited to come to the London conference to participate". But he accepted that it is the government that is doing the preparatory work - and that until the new assembly sits it will not be involved.

Afghan prosperity a dream for most, frustration grows

Kabul (Reuters) - Almost four years ago an excited Mohammad Reza jumped into a bus to bring him and his family home to Afghanistan from years of exile in Iran after U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban government.

Now he's trying to go back. "I wish I hadn't come. I had a better life there," said Reza, 47, as he stood in a queue outside the Iranian Embassy in Kabul, trying, with hundreds of others, to get an Iranian visa.

"I was thinking positively for a long time but I think it's time to go. What we're hearing on the radio about a prosperous future is just a dream." Nearly four years after the Taliban were forced from power, the country remains mired in poverty and corruption, and frustration with the government is growing.

While some main provincial road links have been rebuilt and new buildings, including shopping centers and a luxury hotel, have gone up in the capital, prices have also been rising fast and many people feel their lives have not improved.

A problem for President Hamid Karzai, a year after he formed a new government following a sweeping election victory, is that people's expectations have been raised, but not met. "Only make promises you can fulfill," said an old man who approached Karzai while he was on a recent visit to Herat, Afghanistan's most prosperous city, near the border with Iran.

Just before that encounter, Karzai had made a speech to Herat citizens in which he spoke of his government's determination to improve the economy, the livelihoods of the people, and to rebuild roads, schools and hospitals.

Karzai has made many such promises since becoming interim leader in late 2001, but raising living standards and bringing a modicum of prosperity to his people after 25 years of conflict is not easy.

"People have become fed up with promises and not seeing much improvement practically," said Wadir Safi, a law professor of Kabul University.

Despite a flood of billions of dollars in foreign aid for reconstruction and recovery, Afghanistan remains one of the world's poorest countries.

While foreign aid workers and top government officials drive around Kabul in luxury cars and live in smart houses, some costing $5,000 or more a month, rebuilding has been slow and even non-existent in many places while corruption is rampant, critics say.

Kabul has endured intermittent blackouts for weeks -- not a problem for those with generators and money to fuel them but infuriating for most people. The government recently announced the fulfillment of one of Karzai's long-awaited promises; increasing salaries of civil servants and teachers.

The pay rise of nearly 40 percent sounds impressive but for most it worked out to a pittance -- just $7 a month -- taking an average salary for a civil servant to just over $20 a month, according to officials.

Many of those who got the pay rise ridiculed it and the next day, dozens of women teachers from Zarghona High School, a famous Kabul school, protested over the paltry raise in a rare display of assertiveness by women in the conservative Muslim country.

"Karzai promised to raise government employees' salaries more than three years ago," said a woman teacher Nadira Ahmadi from another school. "But with this rise you can hardly pay for one meal a day for our small family."

Accommodation costs in the capital have skyrocketed in the past four years. Rent for a three room mud-built house is at least $200. Commodity and transport prices have also soared. Many people make ends meet by taking up second jobs, such as running market stalls, at least part time.

Patience is running out, another government worker said. "The rise is like giving chocolate to a crying baby to calm him down, but without thinking whether he is sick or wants milk," said an information ministry official.

"We are being treated like kids and the situation is getting intolerable for people. It is more than enough." Karzai's chief of staff, Jawed Ludin, agreed that people had high expectations and said the government was doing all it could to meet them.

"The people expect that all their deprivations caused by the past 25 years of war to be annihilated quickly," he said. "Improvements have appeared, there are problems, we wish to solve them, we wish to have had resources to have solved them during the past four years."

Afghanistan gets more than half of its annual budget from donor countries. In this year's $678 million budget, police and law enforcement agencies got $157 million, defense spending totaled $126 million and education was allocated $117 million.

Jail concerns not seen derailing NATO Afghan talks

Brussels (Reuters) - NATO foreign ministers will push ahead with plans to expand the alliance's peacekeeping role in Afghanistan at talks on Thursday despite the furor over reports of secret CIA jails, alliance diplomats said.

The expansion of the NATO-led ISAF force from 10,000 to around 16,000 expected next year has dominated the military alliance's agenda for months and is central to U.S. efforts to reduce its military presence there.

Several NATO allies are seen raising concerns with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice over U.S. handling of terror suspects during the meeting, but diplomats saw little appetite for the issue to replace Afghanistan as the focus of the talks.

"This is not NATO business. There are no NATO issues there. As far as we are concerned, the story is Afghanistan," said one senior diplomat who declined to be named.

A second European diplomat, from a country reported to have been used for secret CIA flights of detainees, said he expected Rice to raise the matter but his country would not be doing so.

Rice sought on Monday to deflect criticism of U.S. detention policy before leaving for Europe, saying European intelligence agencies had helped Washington extract information from suspects and urging European allies to see "we are all in this together."

The media reports of secret CIA jails in Europe have been fodder for corridor discussions at NATO headquarters, but have not featured at weekly meetings of the alliance's top envoys.

NATO expects more contact with Afghan detainees as ISAF moves from the north and west into the insurgents' strongholds in the south. The Netherlands has sought assurances on detention practices in light of the allegations over secret CIA jails.

Yet the alliance is confident that ISAF policies bear up to scrutiny, pointing to mission rules to be approved by ministers on Thursday that will require ISAF troops to release or hand over suspects to Afghan authorities within a maximum 96 hours.

Suspects will have access to Red Cross/Crescent workers and can only be interrogated if deemed "a threat to force protection or to a safe and secure environment," said one alliance source, quoting from rules which have not been made public.

Britain, Canada and the Netherlands are expected to lead the expansion south of the ISAF force in the first half of next year but are still awaiting additional reinforcements from allies.

"When I'm satisfied, and not before, I will give the go-ahead for British troops going in," Defense Secretary John Reid said on Monday of contributions from other nations.

The NATO meeting, which begins with a dinner on Wednesday evening, will include consultations on Thursday with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk over Kiev's hopes to be invited to join the alliance in 2008.

NATO diplomats said the alliance will stress that its door is open to Ukraine but reiterate that it expects more progress on democratic reforms, and in turning round Ukrainian public opinion, which remains broadly skeptical of NATO.

Small start to the Great Game - The Indian Express 12/05/2005 By Ajai Shukla

The abduction and murder of a Border Roads driver, Ramankutty Maniyappan, illustrates the pitfalls of providing even non-military aid to an unsettled Afghanistan.The killing raises the question of workers' safety, though not in the way that the murderers seek to impose. Instead, India must consider whether it should remain locked into a pure donor-receiver relationship with Afghanistan or whether it must shed its deliberately passive profile, move armed detachments for the security of its aid personnel and, ultimately, colour Afghanistan policy with a strategic dimension.

Changing tack on international strategy is always difficult, especially when it concerns an already successful relationship. And there is broad agreement that New Delhi has consistently hit the bulls-eye in forging a relationship with post-Taliban Afghanistan.

From the start, India acted with sensitivity and decisiveness. Immediate aid after Kabul was captured in November 2001, Indian intervention took the form of non-threatening humanitarian supplies, delivered in Indian Air Force planes. New Delhi played an important role at the Bonn Conference in forging a post-Taliban dispensation. India's aid to Afghanistan has now crossed 500 million dollars, the largest such programme to any country ever. Relief projects have been carefully directed, spread across provinces and major ethnic groups.

Leveraging the goodwill generated through aid, New Delhi has gained political ground as well. Defusing Pakistani pressure, canalised through the US, Indian consulates function in Jalalabad, Kandahar and Mazar-e-Sharif. India successfully straddles the gulf between the Tajik-dominated Northern Alliance and the Hamid Karzai alliance that replaced it in Kabul, retaining trust with both sides. Relationships are also being forged with the diverse leaders and commanders thrown up by elections in Afghanistan. Sitting in the same Wolesi Jirga or Parliament today are Taliban commander Mullah Rocketi, Panjsheri leader Yunus Qanooni, former communist General Noorul Haq Alomi and technocrat Qayum Karzai. For serious influence, or in an event like an abduction, dialogue rests on functional links with a range of people on the ground.

The tight-rope walk inside Afghanistan is matched by a precarious regional balance, where India must consider the sensitivities of Russia and China as well as America. In the wake of 9/11, the US angrily stormed into the Russian backyard in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan — "all those tans" as Bush famously called them — but the local welcome has run dry. The reason is two-fold: a reassertion of Russian and Chinese assertiveness, through the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and also the new American proclivity to support democratic revolutions in the post-Soviet states.

The result: this week the last Americans flew out of the Khanabad Air Base in Uzbekistan in a C-17 Globemaster aircraft; President Islam Karimov had ordered the US out after Washington criticised his suppression of the Andijan rebellion in May. Uzbekistan has now signed a mutual defence pact with Russia. Tajikistan and Turkmenistan too are back to the Russian fold. US presence in Kyrgyzstan is in trouble too. Afghanistan is the only regional country that welcomes the Americans.

In these shifting sands around and inside Afghanistan, India must endow its presence with its own stability. If New Delhi remains in its comfort zone, basking in the Kautilyan comfort of having "done in" Pakistan in its former backyard, time and events could quickly overtake Afghanistan policy. Aid workers are the mainstay of India's presence in Afghanistan and that presence will be increasingly targeted. Relying on overstretched Afghan security is insufficient; India must send security detachments if necessary. This does not mean a new armed provocation on the ground; the Border Roads detachment building the Delaram-Zaranj road is itself an army unit. A detachment of paramilitary troops already protects India's embassy in Kabul.

An armed Indian military presence, it is true, will whittle down the advantages of a purely humanitarian image. But such an image is perhaps over-valued in New Delhi. In a neighbourhood as rough as southern Afghanistan, nobody functions without assured security. It would be unfair to ask Indian workers to face those risks and most Afghan local commanders and shooras realise that. It is vital to prevent a domestic backlash against India's presence in Afghanistan; a series of incidents involving Indian workers will precipitate a chorus to pull out the innocents.

But several conditions would need to be met before India can create an armed profile in Afghanistan. The first is a consensus between the powers in the region: Russia, China and the US. The first two will come to terms with a greater Indian role in Afghanistan, especially if it means a reduced American presence. US consent would be vital for India and its present opposition temporary. Its heavy investment in General Musharraf notwithstanding, Washington needs help in reducing its presence in Afghanistan. NATO's additional commitment of 6,000 soldiers is not enough. An Indian presence, to look after its own workers, is promising enough for the US to get it past Pakistan.

The most important pre-requisite, however, would be a broad consensus amongst the major players in the fractured Afghan polity. There are four major groups: the Afghan government, the major ethnic groupings like the Northern Alliance, the splintered Pashtun groups and, finally, the so-called "unreformed Taliban". Serious opposition to an Indian presence is likely only from the Taliban. There are traditional links with the ethnic spectrum, from the Northern Alliance to the fragmented Pashtun tribal commanders, all of whom benefit from Indian aid projects. A robust Indian presence would be acceptable to them. In casual chats, Afghans often ask (usually in the context of Pakistan) why India, with all its power, is so reluctant to use it. The danger of provoking Afghan resentment through an armed Indian presence is often over-estimated.

It is often argued that India must stay away from the chaos of Afghanistan. But the reality is that in most places in Afghanistan, the locals find their lives returning to normal. On most highways, traffic moves without being extorted from. Afghans are voting, even protesting. Hamid Karzai's constant refrain about Afghanistan descending into chaos reflects his need to keep on his side the international community. But while the surface boils the stream flows placidly under water.

A major drive is on to bring the Taliban on board. Hamid Karzai has offered an amnesty if the Taliban joins talks with the government. The Pakistan-based Taliban spokesperson, Abdul Hai Mutmaen, has rejected his offer but, in Afghanistan, hundreds of Taliban have switched sides over the last year, taking advantage of the Independent Commission for Peace and National Reconciliation. There is a realisation in Kabul and within moderate factions of the Taliban, that a mutually acceptable solution could be in the offing.

There is already a military dimension to India's relations with Afghanistan. Three hundred military trucks have been gifted to the Afghan Army, which is now considering sending its officers to India for training. The relationship between security advisors is up and running. But it would be unnecessary, and needlessly provocative, for India to think of establishing permanent or semi-permanent bases in Afghanistan. The objective should be no moe than a medium-term armed presence to protect Indian assets and aid personnel, critical to India's role in that country. Showing the flag as a regional power would be an incidental benefit.

Struggles in Afghanistan -  Los Angeles Times (editorial) December 06. 2005

Parliamentary elections in Afghanistan three months ago resulted in the most unlikely of career moves for many of the candidates. Once they were warlords or Taliban fighters; now they are legislators who can craft policy to rebuild the country they helped devastate.

The election results offered a troubling portrait of the future for a nation racked by decades of invasion and war. Worse, the balloting has done nothing to stop the killing in the bloodiest year since the United States ousted the Taliban from power four years ago. Insurgents continue to wreak havoc and kill U.S. soldiers and Afghan civilians. ...

Nearly 90 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan this year, twice as many as last year. In all, nearly 1,500 people have been killed as insurgent violence has increased.

The U.S. has nearly 20,000 troops in Afghanistan (compared to nearly 160,000 in Iraq). NATO countries are due to patrol more of the country in the coming months, increasing the danger to their soldiers.

With Washington concentrating on Iraq, allies will have to pay closer attention to Afghanistan, where postwar reconstruction is plagued by delays. The International Crisis Group, a nongovernmental organization, urged European Union countries in a report last month to better coordinate their activities.

The shaky security situation will require continued international involvement in a country where much remains to be done. It is unsettling that the newly elected National Assembly includes warlords who have plagued Afghanistan for years and resist the authority of President Hamid Karzai, as well as former Taliban soldiers and a onetime provincial governor who presided over the despicable destruction of the 6th century Bamian statues of Buddha.

To counteract their influence, countries attending a U.N. conference next month need to display support of the kind they exhibited after the ouster of the Taliban. Rebuilding is slow, but aid is still needed to prevent the country from again becoming a failed state and a haven for terrorists.

Ariana Afghan new client of Aviareps - TravelDailyNews International 12/05/2005

Ariana Afghan Airlines has appointed Aviareps as their GSA in  eight markets. Besides Germany, France and Italy the airline representation will be responsible for all sales and marketing activities in Switzerland, Austria, Poland, Benelux and the Czech Republic.

Ariana Afghan is the national carrier of Afghanistan. Operating from the capital Kabul, the airline offers two domestic destinations and serves many international cities. In Europe Ariana Afghan flies to Moscow, Istanbul, Ankara and Frankfurt. Routes are used by passengers all over the continent, as the airline is the only provider of air services between Europe and Afghanistan.

In Asia and the Arabian Peninsula the carrier serves destinations such as Dubai, Kuwait, Delhi and Islamabad. Routes to Europe are operated by modern aircrafts of the type Airbus A310 in a two class configuration. Pilots are from western countries as well. The clientele of Ariana Afghan mainly consists of passengers of the sectors politics, military, ethnical traffic as well as international help organisations.

Afghan footballers aim for high profile at South Asian showcase

Karachi (AFP) - Afghanistan, where the Taliban once shaved the heads of a visiting football team for wearing shorts, is hoping to raise its profile in the eight-nation South Asian football tournament starting on Wednesday.

The war-ravaged country joins hosts Pakistan along with India, the Maldives, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal in the biennial South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Cup.

"We want to lay the foundation so that in two or three years the Afghan team is able to compete in the Asian arena," said the team's new German coach Klaus Staerk.

Germany, which will host football's World Cup in 2006, is helping Afghan footballers and also financed a 10-day training camp in a German town earlier this year.

Football and cricket have become the most popular sports in Afghanistan since the repressive Taliban regime was toppled in late 2001 by a US-led military operation.

Along with outlawing kite-flying and other pastimes in their bid to create the world's purest Islamic state, the fundamentalists forbade men from playing football in shorts. Five years ago they shaved the heads of a visiting Pakistani team who defied the ban.

Under the US-backed government of President Hamid Karzai all such edicts were lifted, and Afghanistan will open their campaign in SAFF when they play last editions runners-up the Maldives on Wednesday.

They are placed in Group A, where they will also play against 1997 bronze medallist Pakistan on Friday and Sri Lanka on Sunday.

Bangladesh -- who beat the Maldives two years ago to lift the regional trophy for the first time -- and India -- champions in 1993, 1997 and 1999 -- will be vying for top spot in Group B, which also includes Nepal and Bhutan.

The semi-finals will be played on December 14 while the final of the 11-day event will be played on December 17. Afghanistan finished seventh in the 2003 edition at Dhaka, losing to Sri Lanka (0-1), India (0-4) and Pakistan (0-1).

Staerk admits even basic issues like accommodation and nutrition are problematic for his team, with none of the Afghan players having a job. "So it's difficult to get fit and achieve higher aims, but we will give it the best try," he said.

Pakistan are boosted by the inclusion of defender Zesh Rehman, who plays for English Premiership club Fulham. Rehman, who had his first Premiership start against Liverpool last year, said he would like to be a role model for both Pakistani and Asian players. "I will be very happy if I can make a difference for Pakistan in the tournament," said Rehman.

India, Russia to sign key defence industry deal as leaders meet

Moscow (AFP) - Moscow are to sign a key agreement on protection of intellectual property rights that will regulate joint defence work as Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet in Moscow, Russian newspapers reported.

"The agreement on the defence of intellectual property rights prevents either side from using technologies received from the other without special permission," the Kommersant daily reported on Tuesday.

Russian officials have pushed for the deal as the two countries build on strong Soviet-era ties, expanding joint defence construction projects and Indian arms building that foresees the use of Russian technology.

The projects include an Indian plan to build the country's first nuclear submarine, joint construction of a multi-purpose transport plane and plans for joint work on a fifth generation fighter jet, Kommersant said.

Russia is planning to lease two Shchuka-B nuclear submarines to the Indian navy and some 200 Indian naval officers are already training at a Russian naval base near Saint Petersburg as New Delhi plans to build its own nuclear submarine fleet, Kommersant said.

Singh, who is on a three-day visit to Moscow and is set to leave Wednesday, "is meeting the president today," an official from the press office of the Indian embassy in Moscow said Tuesday.

Ahead of Singh's trip to Russia, Indian officials said the prime minister would look to develop long-term energy cooperation with Russia, including a possible partnership for Indian companies at Russia's Sakhalin-III oil field.

Existing joint arms projects between India and Russia include construction of BrahMos anti-ship missiles and the building of Su-30 MKI fighter jets and T-90 tanks in India under licence.

Current defence contracts between the two countries are worth 9 billion dollars (7.6 billion euros), Indian Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said during a visit to Moscow last month.

[Disclaimer: The content of this news bulletin does not necessarily reflect the view or policy of the Afghan Government, unless specifically stated as such. The collection of articles and commentaries from Afghan and international news sources is provided for informational purposes, and accuracy of the news is the responsibility of the original source.]