India has a "stake" in Afghanistan: NATO chief

MUNICH: NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that New Delhi had a "stake" in Afghanistan as he sought "a stronger, more inclusive security coalition" of countries like India, China and Russia to tackle terrorism, cyber attacks, energy cut-offs, piracy and climate change.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Rasmussen said that a key lesson of the alliance's troubled mission in Afghanistan is that NATO "needs an entirely new compact between all the actors on the security stage."

"India has a stake in Afghan stability. China too. And both could help further develop and rebuild Afghanistan. The same goes for Russia. Basically, Russia shares our security concerns," Rasmussen was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

He noted that in an age of global insecurity, the threats to Europe and North America, including terrorism, cyber attacks, energy cut-offs, piracy and climate change, come from far beyond NATO borders.

Thus, Rasmussen said that NATO should become "the hub of a network of security partnerships and a center for consultation on international security issues" with countries such as India and China.

In order to tackle these threats effectively, NATO should create "a stronger, more inclusive security coalition, with NATO as the hub," he said.

"Against such threats, the approaches of a bygone era simply no longer work. Static, heavy metal armies are not going to impress terrorists, pirates or computer hackers," he said.