In the wake of recent terror attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul, the two countries on Tuesday put up a united face and resolved to jointly fight the "enemies of peace".
"We must show resolve to continue our relationship so that enemies of peace in Afghanistan get the message that their designs would not succeed," Afghanistan's Deputy Minister for Rural Rehabilitation and Development Asif Rahimi said at a joint media interaction with Panchayati Raj Minister Mani Shankar Aiyer.
Referring to the July 7 attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul in which four Indians were among those killed, Rahimi said, "we must resist terrorism and show resilience". "We are very sad that four of our Indian friends lost lives in the attack," he said.
Describing the bilateral ties as historical and cultural, he said that Afghanistan valued the relations with India very high. In a word of advice to the Afghan minister, Aiyer suggested that a strong Panchayat system, which empowers people at grass-root level to govern, can go a long way in combating violence.
An expert group in the Planning Commission here has advised that stronger panchayats will help combat Naxal menace. Though the problem in Afghanistan is not the same, this experiment can be tried there as that country too has the problem of violence," he said.
India is actively involved in capacity building in Afghanistan and over 3,000 Indians are engaged in reconstruction and development projects.