'No military solution possible in Afghanistan'

India has said that there is no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan and asserted that “there could be a political settlement”.

India has said that there is no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan and asserted that “there could be a political settlement”.

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In an interview to the Wall Street Journal on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, External Affairs Minister, S M Krishna said India did “not believe that war can solve any problem and that applies to Afghanistan too.”

Recently, the American media had reported that General Stanley A McChrystal, a NATO commander in Afghanistan, had sent in an assessment asking for more forces within the next year.

Chrystal incidentally had suggested in his report that India's growing influence in Afghanistan could “exacerbate” regional tensions and encourage Pakistani “countermeasures” in Afghanistan or India.

Krishna, however, dismissed this saying “It is a baseless allegation” and added “India’s role in Afghanistan is to help them to stabilize on their infrastructure development.” “That's our immediate concern. That is the reason why we were asked to come to Afghanistan. We are building roads, we are building school buildings and we are building transmission lines,” he said.