Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday described India as a “close friend” while referring to Pakistan and Afghanistan as a “conjoined twin”. In remarks aimed at assuaging Pakistan’s concerns about the Indian presence in Afghanistan, Karzai said his country would never allow its soil to be used for activities directed against any of its neighbours.

“India is a close friend of Afghanistan but Pakistan is a twin brother of Afghanistan. We are more than twins, we are conjoined twins. There is no separation, there cannot be a separation,” he said in response to a question during a joint news conference with Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.

At the same time, Karzai, who was here on a two-day visit, made it clear that India and Afghanistan have “very close friendly relations”.

Karzai said: “India has gone out of its way to help Afghanistan with reconstruction and to offer Afghan youth education in India.”

“Afghanistan will not allow its territory to be used against any one of our neighbours, in particular against Pakistan. And we hope the same will reflect towards Afghanistan that Pakistani territory will not be used against Afghanistan,” Karzai said.