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India is helping Northern Alliance: Fernandes

India was providing more "monetary and material" support to the Northern Alliance than most other countries, Defence Minister George Fernandes said in an interview published on Friday.

India had been actively backing the Northern Alliance as an alternative to Afghanistan's Taleban regime, and Fernandes said the assistance provided was part of the "major role" being played by New Delhi in the global campaign against terrorism.

"Whatever they asked for, they have got and will continue to get," Fernandes told the The Indian Express newspaper. He refused to provide details.

He, however, admitted that India had not committed any "human resources" to the fight against the Taleban, except for Indian Army personnel manning a hospital near Tajikistan's border with Afghanistan for the fighters of the Northern Alliance.

Details about India's aid to the Northern Alliance had emerged only in recent weeks. External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh was the first to admit that Indian military personnel were running the hospital in Tajikistan.

Other reports had suggested that New Delhi had also supplied light weapons and other supplies to the opposition fighters. India, Tajikistan and Russia are part of an informal grouping that is currently aiding the Northern Alliance.

Although it would take time to "see what is tangible in our effort and contribution...it is bigger than that of many other countries", Fernandes said.

Russia had earlier supplied Soviet-era armoured vehicles, including T-55 tanks and BMP armoured carriers, and heavy weapons to the Northern Alliance.

Indo-Asian News Service

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