NEW DELHI, Dec 4: Washington and New Delhi share common goals on the future of Afghanistan, where India has always played a strong role, the top US State Department official for Afghanistan said on Tuesday.

“What a lot of people do not fully know and quite appreciate is that India has always played a very strong, positive role in Afghanistan. Over the decades, India has been one of the countries most involved in helping Afghanistan,” Richard Haass told a regional economic conference in New Delhi.

“Very quickly after the Sept 11 terrorist strikes in the United States it became apparent that Washington and New Delhi shared a commonality of views on Afghanistan. Both wanted to replace the Taliban regime with a broad-based multi-ethnic government,” he said.

Haass said India and the United States also shared “common goals” in Afghanistan.

“Our goals in Afghanistan are clear,” he said. “Both of us are certain that the Al-Qaeda has to be rooted out of Afghanistan. We both want to ensure that Afghanistan is never again a country that harbours terrorism or provides a sanctuary to terrorists.”

Haass arrived in India late on Monday and met top Indian defence officials and political leaders to discuss the Afghanistan situation.

His trip comes in the wake of a summit between Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and US President George W. Bush in Washington on Nov 9 that prioritized bilateral cooperation in defence, space and energy.

“The meeting mapped out the vision to take our important bilateral relationship forward in areas of defence cooperation and the peaceful use of space,” said Haass.

“My goal in India right now is to make US-India cooperation second nature. We should keep up intimate and regular consultations on all issues like we have done over the Afghan issue. I have had fruitful discussions with the Indian leadership on a range of issues including Afghanistan,” he said.

Another senior US official, Undersecretary of Defence for Policy Douglas Feith, is also in India, where he is looking “to establish long-term military ties”.

“He will explore the scope of long-term military-to-military relations between India and the United States including arms sales, transfer of dual use technology and intelligence cooperation,” Haass said later at a news conference.—AFP