KABUL, Jan 23: India's foreign minister met President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday to formally invite Afghanistan into a South Asian grouping after witnessing the signing of a million-dollar agreement on building government.

Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee met Mr Karzai at the presidential palace for talks the Afghan foreign ministry said would also cover the “fight against terrorism” and the reconstruction of war-battered Afghanistan.

He told reporters, after earlier meeting his Afghan counterpart Rangeen Dadfar Spanta, that one of the main aims of his visit was to invite Mr Karzai to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) meeting in New Delhi in March.

India has also said it would invite Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf to the conference.

Mukherjee earlier witnessed the signing with the United Nations Development Programme of a memorandum of understanding for a $1.08 million grant from India for capacity building in the Afghan government.—AFP