Expressing its desire to boost defence ties, Afghanistan has said it wants to send its troops for counter insurgency training to India and has requested New Delhi for logistics support to revive its fleet of Russian origin helicopters.

While Defence Minister A K Antony ruled out any military involvement in the war-torn country, he assured his Afghani counterpart Abdul Rahim Wardak (who is on a historic visit) that India would remain “actively engaged” in the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the nation.

Wardak, who held a 45-minute meeting with Antony at South Block on Tuesday, said his country would seek New Delhi’s help in operationalising its air force that consists of similar platforms in service with the Indian Air Force (IAF).

During talks with the Indian Defence establishment, a seven-member delegation led by Wardak also expressed a need for medical equipment for field hospitals and musical instruments for military bands.

The Afghan delegation will now head for Kashmir to get a brief on Indian Army’s counter-insurgency operations drills. He will be briefed by top officers at the 15 Corp Headquarters in Srinagar.

Wardak, who is the first Afghan Defence Minister to visit India in decades, will also visit IAF facilities and the HAL establishment at Bangalore during his India tour. The delegation will be briefed on the indigenously developed Advance Light Helicopter (ALH) and the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA).

Significantly, Wardak’s visit comes a fortnight after National Security Adviser M K Narayanan called for a debate on India’s involvement in Afghanistan. In a detailed talk on India’s security scenario at an IAF function, Narayanan had said a

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