Can build future on past ties: Ghani

NEW DELHI: Afghanistan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani said on Tuesday that India and Afghanistan share strong, old ties and these can be “guide” to their future relations.

Addressing a joint press conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi here, Ghani said: “India and Afghanistan are bound by a million ties through millennium. Our Ambassador was telling me that there are an estimated several million people in India who claim decent from Afghanistan and various parts.” “Yesterday (Monday), I had the pleasure of meeting with people who after 200 years of living here still speak Pashto of absolute pure cadence. That is an indication of the ties that we have had, and the past here is guide to the future,” Ghani said.

The Afghan president added that other regions “need to overcome their past in order to build the future, but we can build a future based on appreciation of our past”. — IANS NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday called on Afghan President Ashraf Ghani here, ahead of delegation level talks between Ghani and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He was received at Palam airport by Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha. Sushma Swaraj called on him at the Dwarka Suite of Rashtrapati Bhavan. Earlier, Ghani was accorded a ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Ghani will later be called on by several union ministers, including of Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Health Minister J P Nadda.

Vice-President Mohammad Hamid Ansari will also call on him. He will deliver the keynote address at the Indian Council of World Affairs. He will also call on President Pranab Mukherjee and attend the presidential banquet. On Wednesday, Ghani will hold meeting CII, FICCI and ASSOCHAM. He leaves on Wednesday evening.