Afghanistan has sought more military supplies from India including attack helicopters as it stepped up its offensive last week against terror groups killing 300 Islamic State terrorists, the top US and NATO commander in the war-ravaged country said today. 
 
General John Nicholson said India has been making &quot;enormouslyy valuable&quot; contribution in strengthening Afghan security forces and the US favours the military support. 
 
India has already provided four Mi-25 helicopters to Afghanistan and US Commander said the country needs more military aircraft to deal with Taliban and various other terror outfits. 
 
Welcoming India&#39;s contribution to restoring peace and stability in Afghanistan, Nicholson said terror outfits like the Haqqani network, Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad are not only a threat to Afghanistan but to the region, including India, and the US was putting pressure on Pakistan to contain these groups. 
 
He said the Taliban also &quot;enjoys sanctuaries&quot; in Pakistan. &quot;We consistently encourage Pakistan to take action against terrorist groups that operate from its territory and close down their safe havens,&quot; he told journalists. 
 
Nicholson, who heads the US operations in Afghanistan, met India&#39;s national security adviser Ajit Doval, foreign secretary S Jaishankar and defence secretary G Mohan Kumar and discussed a range of issues including situation in Afghanistan and terror threat to the region. 
 
The US commander said Afghan forces, supported by the US, had launched a major offensive against Islamic State terror outfit two weeks back in which around 300 IS fighters were killed. 
 
&quot;In the course of the operation they killed a number of top leaders of the organisation and upto 300 of their fighters. Obviously it&#39;s difficult to get an exact count, but what this amounts to is about 25 per cent of the organisation at least, and so this represents a severe setback for them. It reduced their territory,&quot; he said. 
 
The US Commander said military training by India to thousands of Afghan security personnel has helped that country in significantly enhancing its military capability which is in tune with the objective of the NATO and the US. 
 
(PTI) 
 
 
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Welcoming India's contribution to Afghanistan, Nicholson said terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Toiba are a threat to the entire region

Afghanistan has sought more military supplies from India including attack helicopters as it stepped up its offensive last week against terror groups killing 300 Islamic State terrorists, the top US and NATO commander in the war-ravaged country said today. General John Nicholson said India has been making "enormouslyy valuable" contribution in strengthening Afghan security forces and the US favours the military support. India has already provided four Mi-25 helicopters to Afghanistan and US Commander said the country needs more military aircraft to deal with Taliban and various other terror outfits. Welcoming India's contribution to restoring peace and stability in Afghanistan, Nicholson said terror outfits like the Haqqani network, Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad are not only a threat to Afghanistan but to the region, including India, and the US was putting pressure on Pakistan to contain these groups. He said the Taliban also "enjoys sanctuaries" in Pakistan. "We consistently encourage Pakistan to take action against terrorist groups that operate from its territory and close down their safe havens," he told journalists. Nicholson, who heads the US operations in Afghanistan, met India's national security adviser Ajit Doval, foreign secretary S Jaishankar and defence secretary G Mohan Kumar and discussed a range of issues including situation in Afghanistan and terror threat to the region. The US commander said Afghan forces, supported by the US, had launched a major offensive against Islamic State terror outfit two weeks back in which around 300 IS fighters were killed. "In the course of the operation they killed a number of top leaders of the organisation and upto 300 of their fighters. Obviously it's difficult to get an exact count, but what this amounts to is about 25 per cent of the organisation at least, and so this represents a severe setback for them. It reduced their territory," he said. The US Commander said military training by India to thousands of Afghan security personnel has helped that country in significantly enhancing its military capability which is in tune with the objective of the NATO and the US. (PTI)

US favours India's military support to Afghanistan: General John Nicholson

Speaker of the US House of Representatives,&nbsp;Paul Ryan, has said that the Indian government is going to be America&#39;s &quot;great ally&quot;, and there is a need to nurture this relationship.
In a major foreign policy speech in which he was highly critical of President Barack Obama&#39;s policies, the US-India relationship was the only aspect of it which was appreciated by Ryan.
&quot;I think you need, in particular, specifically under Modi&#39;s leadership, and he and I have discussed this at great length yesterday, (US-India) have a great potential for the future. Particularly with the seas, in the Pacific and in the Indian Ocean, making sure that we help police the global commons and international order. Namely China building, you know, runways on islands in contested areas,&quot; Ryan said.

He said this in the speech at the Council on Foreign Relations on Thursday, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a joint meeting of the US Congress at his invitation.
Modi was the first foreign leader to be invited to address a joint sitting of the Congress under Ryan&#39;s speakership.&nbsp;On Wednesday, Modi and Ryan had a one-on-one interaction before the Prime Minister&#39;s address. Ryan also hosted a lunch for the visiting leader.

A day later, Ryan was all in praise for Modi.&nbsp;&quot;I think the Indian (government), the new Indian government, is going to be a great ally of ours and we have better security cooperation with them. That&#39;s one thing that we need to nurture and grow,&quot; Ryan told the audience at the Council on Foreign Relations, a top American think tank.

&quot;And those of us who are fans of Modi, you know, he&#39;s a conservative who wants, who embraces, free enterprise. He&#39;s bringing needed reform to the country,&quot; Ryan said, according to the remarks released by his office.

&quot;That&#39;s the kind of an alliance that we need to forge and build upon. That stands in stark contrast, I would argue, to the Obama foreign policy of the last eight years where we have neglected our allies and we have basically rewarded our enemies, our adversaries,&quot; said the Speaker of the US House of Representatives.

Except for his comments on India, Ryan slammed Obama&#39;s foreign policy.&nbsp;&quot;We know that this new Obama foreign policy concept, leading from behind, can now be declared an unambiguous failure. It is making us unprepared. It is reducing our military capability and strength,&quot; he alleged.

Though Ryan, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, criticised most of Obama's policies, he appreciated the US-India relationship

Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Paul Ryan, has said that the Indian government is going to be America's "great ally", and there is a need to nurture this relationship. In a major foreign policy speech in which he was highly critical of President Barack Obama's policies, the US-India relationship was the only aspect of it which was appreciated by Ryan. "I think you need, in particular, specifically under Modi's leadership, and he and I have discussed this at great length yesterday, (US-India) have a great potential for the future. Particularly with the seas, in the Pacific and in the Indian Ocean, making sure that we help police the global commons and international order. Namely China building, you know, runways on islands in contested areas," Ryan said. He said this in the speech at the Council on Foreign Relations on Thursday, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a joint meeting of the US Congress at his invitation. Modi was the first foreign leader to be invited to address a joint sitting of the Congress under Ryan's speakership. On Wednesday, Modi and Ryan had a one-on-one interaction before the Prime Minister's address. Ryan also hosted a lunch for the visiting leader. A day later, Ryan was all in praise for Modi. "I think the Indian (government), the new Indian government, is going to be a great ally of ours and we have better security cooperation with them. That's one thing that we need to nurture and grow," Ryan told the audience at the Council on Foreign Relations, a top American think tank. "And those of us who are fans of Modi, you know, he's a conservative who wants, who embraces, free enterprise. He's bringing needed reform to the country," Ryan said, according to the remarks released by his office. "That's the kind of an alliance that we need to forge and build upon. That stands in stark contrast, I would argue, to the Obama foreign policy of the last eight years where we have neglected our allies and we have basically rewarded our enemies, our adversaries," said the Speaker of the US House of Representatives. Except for his comments on India, Ryan slammed Obama's foreign policy. "We know that this new Obama foreign policy concept, leading from behind, can now be declared an unambiguous failure. It is making us unprepared. It is reducing our military capability and strength," he alleged.

Paul Ryan believes Indian government is going to be America's 'great ally'

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US favours India's military support to Afghanistan: General John Nicholson

Paul Ryan believes Indian government is going to be America's 'great ally'