Afghan Foreign Minister visits India; Obama pays surprise visit to Afghanistan, signs strategic partnership agreement with Afghanistan
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  • According to reports, Afghanistan’s foreign minister Zalmai Rassoul arrived in New Delhi on May 1, 2012 to meet senior government ministers, months after his country signed a strategic pact with India. He met with his Indian counterpart S M Krishna. The two leaders are leading the first session of an India-Afghanistan council set up under the strategic pact signed in October, 2011. It would be worth noting that this strategic partnership agreement was Afghanistan’s first with any country and outlined areas of common concern including trade, economic expansion, education, security and politics.1

    In another significant development, US President Barack Obama arrived in Afghanistan on May 1, 2012 on a surprise visit a year after American elite Navy Seals killed Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in a raid inside Pakistan. 2 President Barack Obama signed the strategic partnership agreement with his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai in the wee hours of May 2, 2012 shortly after he arrived in the Afghan capital Kabul for a surprise visit. US Ambassador to Afghanistan Royan Crocker, International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) commander Gen. Johan Allen, National Directorate of Security (NDS) chief Rahmatullah Nabil, National Advisor on Security Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta and other high-level officials from both sides attended the landmark signing ceremony. 3

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