Bush favours UNSC seat for India

NEW DELHI: Former US President George W Bush today favoured a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) seat for India, saying it has "arrived" as a strong democratic country in the world.

He also wanted India and the US to work together to win the war on terror in Afghanistan to bring peace and stability in the region.

"We must see the possibility of a seat for India in the United Nations Security Council," Bush said, speaking at the HT Leadership Summit here.

"India has arrived as a strong democratic country in the world. It is a tolerant, peaceful and multi-religious democracy," he said.

Bush, who visited India in 2006 when the two sides chartered out the road map for further strengthening Indo-US strategic partnership, said the two countries shared the same values of freedom and democracy.

On Afghanistan, he said, "America and India must work together to win the war in Afghanistan. The mission in Afghanistan has been long and difficult and costly. I believe it is necessary for stability and peace."

He wholeheartedly agreed with US President Barack Obama that the US-India relations were not only one of the most important ties in the world, but they should also be one of the best.

But he cautioned that it would not happen automatically and the two nations would have to make important choices, including cooperation in the war in Afghanistan.