US proposed monitoring of Indian missions in Afghanistan: Book

WASHINGTON: The US in 2005 proposed to jointly monitor Indian Consulates in Afghanistan's Kandahar and Jalalabad to address concerns of then Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharraf that India was using them to destabilise his country, according to a new book by an ex-American diplomat.

Former US Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad has stated this in his latest book 'The Envoy: From Kabul to White House' while referring to a meeting that he had with General Musharraf in early 2005.

During the meeting in Islamabad, Musharraf alleged that India had set up consulates in Kandahar and Jalalabad to destabilise Pakistan.

"I told him that historically, India had Consulates in those cities to facilitate exports of Afghan agricultural products," Khalilzad writes in the book.

"I suggested that the United States, Afghanistan, and Pakistan could monitor the Consulates and determine whether India was in fact using them for hostile purposes. This was a great proposal, Musharraf said, and the United States and Pakistan should follow up on it," the Bush-era diplomat said.

Khalilzad who later was also appointed as the US Ambassador to the United Nations does not write if the proposal was actually put into practice by the two countries.