India condemns Trump’s remarks
US PRESIDENT MOCKED NEW DELHI
India’s ruling and opposition parties condemned US President Donald Trump’s comments this week mocking New Delhi’s role in war-torn Afghanistan, where the South Asian country has invested billion of dollars in economic projects and military training.
The United States and India have drawn closer in recent years as they seek ways to counter-balance China’s spreading influence across Asia.
But Trump’s apparent bid to undermine India’s developmental work in Afghanistan has annoyed not just politicians but also many ordinary Indians.
Trump said this week he got along very well with Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi but that Modi was “constantly telling me he built a library in Afghanistan”.
“You know what that is? That’s like five hours of what we spend,” Trump said. “And we are supposed to say, ‘oh, thank you for the library’. I don’t know who is using it in Afghanistan.”
It was not immediately clear which library Trump was referring to, but both Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the main opposition Congress were united in their criticism of the US president.
India has centuries-old ties with Afghanistan and both accuse common neighbour Pakistan of not doing enough to stop Islamist militants operating on their territory. Pakistan denies the charges.
“Maybe Trump should know that while he is decrying every other help in Afghanistan, India has been building not only libraries, but roads, dams, schools and even parliament buildings,” Ram Madhav, a BJP general secretary, said on Twitter.
Modi’s office did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment. –