Trump, Modi Discuss Afghanistan, Trade ties
U.S. President Donald Trump and the Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi discussed trade ties and their cooperation in Afghanistan by phone on Monday, the White House reported.
U.S. President Donald Trump and the Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi discussed trade ties and their cooperation in Afghanistan by phone on Monday, the White House reported.
“The leaders agreed to strengthen the U.S.-India strategic partnership in 2019 and exchanged perspectives on how to reduce the U.S. trade deficit with India, expand security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific, and increase cooperation in Afghanistan,” the White House said in a statement.
The consultation comes as US president Donald Trump has recently criticised India of doing little for Afghanistan.
“I could give you an example where I get along very well with India and Prime Minister Modi. But he is constantly telling me, he built a library in Afghanistan. Library! That’s like five hours of what we spend (in Afghanistan),” Trump told his cabinet colleagues.
“And he (Modi) tells me. He is very smart. We are supposed to say, oh thank you for the library. Don’t know who’s using it (the library) in Afghanistan. But it’s one of those things. I don’t like being taken advantage of,” he added.
