Home Minister Rajnath Singh raises concern over NATO forces withdrawal from Afghanistan

New Delhi: India on Saturday said that the withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan would not only have security implications for South Asia but also for the US and other countries even as he called for maximum caution in the wake of the development.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh told a delegation of US-India Strategic Dialogue that New Delhi was keenly observing the developments in Afghanistan as the situation in the troubled nation has security ramifications for the region, particularly India.

"The withdrawal of NATO forces will not only have an impact on the region but also on the US and other countries," Singh was quoted as saying by sources.

The international coalition closed its facilities in Afghanistan and handed over charge to Afghan military at the end of December, 2014, 13 years after the toppling of the Taliban regime in that country.

The NATO-led force is now shifting to the reduced role of providing support as Afghanistan's newly-trained army and police take over the fight against Taliban.

The US-India Strategic Dialogue, a track-II platform, is a policy group which promotes bilateral ties. Its co-chairman is Joseph S Nye, a professor at the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

According to the sources, the Home Minister told the delegation that Indian security agencies were facing problems in accessing various web portals and social networking sites which have their servers in the US, thus leading to problems in tackling anti-social elements.

Singh told the team that Washington should cooperate with New Delhi in sharing real-time information on criminal and terror matters.

He also flagged terrorism as the key concern for India and America and said the world must unite to fight the menace, the sources added.