New Delhi, Oct 5:  Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai reached out to "twin brother" Pakistan on Wednesday in an effort to reassure an increasingly isolated neighbour that a deal to boost economic and security cooperation with rival India will not harm ties.
 India is already one of Afghanistan's biggest bilateral donors, having pledged about $2 billion since the 2001 U.S led-invasion for projects from the construction of highways to the building of the Afghan parliament.
 "Pakistan is our twin brother, India is a great friend. The agreement we signed with our friend will not affect our brother," Karzai said in a foreign policy speech in New Delhi.
 "This strategic partnership ... is not directed against any country ... this strategic partnership is to support Afghanistan."
 Karzai's two-day visit to India comes during rising Afghan anger with Pakistan and Afghan accusations of Pakistani involvement in militant attacks.
 Karzai and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sealed an agreement on Tuesday that spanned closer political ties to fighting terrorism and allowed India to help train its police and army.
 The agreement with India is one of several being negotiated by Kabul, including one with the United States, that are part of an Afghan bid for greater security as NATO troops head home.
 Concern over the ability of Afghan forces to maintain security as Western forces pull out has increased with a series of bloody Taliban attacks and assassinations. Apart from security cooperation, the two leaders agreed that Afghanistan’s economic integration with the Indian economy and South Asia as a whole was in the national interest of the people of Afghanistan and one of the ways to achieve this is to promote closer trade, investment and transit links.
 They also inked two MoUs-- one in the field of mineral exploration and the other for the development of hydrocarbons.
 The two sides agreed to consult and cooperate at the United Nations and other international, regional and multilateral fora and such  cooperation is to be aimed at influencing decision-making in these fora in the interest of both the countries, including support for   the reform and expansion of the UN Security Council.
 Security cooperation between the two sides is intended to help enhance their respective and mutual efforts in the fight against international  terrorism, organized crime, illegal trafficking in narcotics and money laundering.
 India agrees to assist, as mutually determined, in the training, equipping and capacity building programmes for Afghan National Security Forces. PTI/Agencies

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