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India will have role in Afghanistan's future: Vajpayee

India will follow a proactive policy towards Afghanistan and extend full support to the Northern Alliance, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said on Saturday.

"It is difficult to say what shape the new set-up in Afghanistan takes, but we will fulfil our role in the exercise to form the future government," Vajpayee told journalists during an informal luncheon hosted by Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Vijay Kumar Malhotra.

He said the very fact that India was one of the first countries to send a diplomatic mission to the Afghan capital demonstrated his government's intentions to revive New Delhi's traditional ties with Kabul.

Vajpayee said India would revive its traditional relations with the Northern Alliance and play a greater role in the formation of the new government.

India re-established its diplomatic presence in Afghanistan this week after a gap of more than five years by setting up a liaison office in Kabul.

The Indian embassy in Kabul was closed down in September 1996 after the Taleban seized control of the city and overthrew then government of President Burhanuddin Rabbani.

India, like the United Nations and most other countries, continued to recognise the Rabbani government, whose Northern Alliance forces regained control of Kabul and many other Afghan cities last week.

Indo-Asian News Service

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