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NEW DELHI India will provide more assistance to Afghan defense forces and implement new development projects in the war-torn country.

The announcement came at the first high-level meeting held between the two countries after U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled a new Afghan strategy in which he called on India to step up its role in Afghanistan.

A joint statement issued at the end of a day-long conference between the Afghan and Indian foreign ministers Monday in New Delhi said they have agreed to strengthen security cooperation, and India will extend assistance for the Afghan forces to fight terrorism, organized crime, trafficking of narcotics and money laundering.

Afghanistan has long pressed for greater Indian assistance in defense supplies and capacity building as it struggles to fight Taliban insurgents who have taken swathes of territory.

Although India provides economic aid to Kabul, it has been more measured in giving military assistance, wary that Pakistan has resisted a greater role for India in Afghanistan. India trains Afghan soldiers in its military academy and has supplied attack helicopters.

The two countries also said they would cooperate in overcoming challenges posed by Islamic terror groups. Both India and Afghanistan have long accused Pakistan of sheltering terror groups that mount attacks in their countries.

"We remain united in trying to overcome the challenges posed by cross-border terrorism and safe haven and sanctuaries to both our countries," said Indian's foreign minister, Sushma Swaraj.

At the same time, the Afghan minister tried to allay fears the growing partnership between the two countries was aimed at Pakistan.

Saying that current regional trends bring India and Afghanistan "more closer than ever," Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani said their friendship does not mean hostility with others in the neighborhood. "Such rationale has never had any room in our foreign policy. Unlike others, Afghanistan has hardly sought security in the insecurity of others."

Development projects

Foreign Minister Swaraj said that New Delhi would undertake 116 new "high impact" development projects focused on socio-economic and infrastructure development in 31 provinces of Afghanistan.

The new projects would include a dam and drinking water supply project for Kabul, a low-cost housing project for refugees, and a polyclinic in Mazar-e Sharif. New Delhi also said it will step up connectivity projects between the two countries � which remains a key challenge in the landlocked country � and start sending wheat shipments in the coming weeks.

India already has a $2 billion economic cooperation program in the country that includes building roads and hospitals.

New Delhi had welcomed Trump's new strategy in Afghanistan, in which he said that "we want them to help us more with Afghanistan, especially in the area of economic assistance and development," and called on Pakistan to eliminate militant sanctuaries.

On Monday, Swaraj called India's relationship with Afghanistan "an article of faith."

Source: Voice of America

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MUMBAI Indian police are investigating a major organ trade racket after they arrested two men, including an alleged kingpin, at Mumbai airport for trafficking poor people for their kidneys to Egypt, officials said Monday.

The men � identified as Nizamuddin and Suresh Prajapati � were arrested last week and have been charged with human trafficking, police said.

Prajapati, known to police as a "kidney kingpin," had been arrested by police in southern Telangana state last year on suspicion of trafficking nearly 60 people to Sri Lanka for their kidneys and was out on bail.

"We were alerted by an immigration official at the Mumbai international airport who found three passports on one of them. One passport belonged to a donor they were arranging to take to Egypt," said senior inspector Lata Shirsath.

"They have taken six people between May and July, and kidney transplants in four cases were already done. We spoke to the hospital in Cairo and asked them not to go ahead with the two remaining transplant procedures."

Police said they suspected there were more agents involved in the trade as the duo had arranged donors from Delhi, Jammu, Hyderabad and Kerala, who were being sent on tourist visas to Cairo.

The recipients were from different parts of India who flew to Cairo to undergo the transplant procedure to beat India's rules that do not allow commercial trade in organs.

Police in Telangana state who are coordinating with Mumbai police on the case said Prajapati recruited former kidney donors to work as agents to scout for more donors.

In India, the waiting list for organs is long, as donations are few, which has led to black market trade.

According to government data, 200,000 people are on waiting lists for kidneys in India every year and 30,000 for liver transplants. Legal donations meet about 3 to 5 percent of the demand.

Some waitlisted patients, in desperation, seek the services of middlemen to arrange organs for money. The middlemen scout villages for potential donors, whom they sometimes lure with money and false promises of a job in the city.

Police said the recipients paid 3 million Indian rupees ($47,000) to the two agents for arranging the kidney, of which the donors were paid 500,000 Indian rupees (around $8,000).

"Because ... organ donations are scrutinized closely in India, it is difficult to make such donations here," said Anil Kumar, who heads India's organ transplant program.

With a shortage of organ donors globally, "transplant tourism" is rife in South Asia, especially in Pakistan's Punjab, with criminal networks using agents overseas to fly in foreigners needing organs.

Source: Voice of America