India on Tuesday urged the United States to consider the "ground realities" in Afghanistan and ensure its troop pulldown does not provide space for the re-emergence of Taliban-sponsored "terrorism."
"We have impressed on the United States and other countries who have a major presence in Afghanistan that it is necessary for them to continue in Afghanistan," Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna told a joint press briefing with visiting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
"It is necessary for the United States to factor in Afghanistan's ground realities so that... Afghanistan will be in a position to defend itself against terrorism sponsored by the Taliban," Krishna said.
However, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that the United States was ``encouraged' by the ongoing talks between India and Pakistan and promised to give full support to Indian efforts to protect itself from terror.
Clinton's visit to India came less than a week after a triple bombing killed 20 people in India's financial capital of Mumbai, the worst terror strike in the country since 10 Pakistan-based gunmen rampaged through the city in 2008.
Her meetings with top Indian officials Tuesday focused on fighting terror, the US withdrawal plans from Afghanistan and ways to broaden economic and security ties between the United States and India.