Afghan defence minister Abdul Rahim Wardak, currently on a week-long visit to India, discussed military cooperation with his Indian counterpart in Delhi.

The minister will be taken to Kashmir to experience first hand Indian ’success story’ of combating the ’mutual threat of terrorism’. Wardak will be first Afghan defense minister to visit disputed Kashmir in three decades and his visit is loaded with lot of symbolism, observers here say. Wardak will be visiting Indian Army establishments in Jammu and Kashmir including Srinagar (where the 15-Corps is based) and Nagrota in Jammu (the home of 16 Corps, the largest Corps in the Indian Army and tasked with counter insurgency operations in the Jammu region of Kashmir) during his visit, sources confirmed to IRNA. At Srinagar-based 15 Corps headquarters of the Indian army, the Afghan minster would be given a presentation on the way Indian army conducts its anti-militancy operations, official sources said.

Wardak will also witness counter-terrorism drills. "Terrorism is a common threat to both the countries. Cooperation between us is important against fundamentalism and terrorism," Wardak was quoted as saying upon his arrival in India.

The minister also declared that Afghan military officers could soon be in India, perhaps even in Kashmir, to learn from Indian experience in combating terror.